Conquering the Digital Divide

The Digital Divide is still alive and well!  See how Rowan County, NC is conquering it!

Surrounded by Educational Technology

The timeliness of this class could not have been more perfect or applicable to my work!  An essential for the adult learner...right?!  As I have mentioned before, I have been involved in technology planning for our new Med School for the last year or so.  This class, along with my day to day work, have really brought the material to life and I have been able to be more of an active participant in planning and discussion.

Also, recently, I attended a conference in Denver for Standardized Patient Educators and the main theme was technology.  This reflection perfectly summarizes one of the many sessions dedicated to educational technology.

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to take this course and apply it professionally instantly.  I look forward to the many more courses ahead of me in the MHS program.  Thanks Melisa!

Glog-What in the world can I do with this?

A couple of weeks ago, our instructor, Melisa challenged me to think about how I could put my Glog assignment to use.  I have thought and thought about it and while this was a useful exercise for my own learning, I'm not sure where I could personally use this tool.  I haven't come up with any useful ways to utilize a glog since I'm not involved in the actual instruction of students; however, I could see where this tool would be useful to instructors or even to students to summarize research.  I'll keep searching for a professional use for me, but thanks for the introduction Melisa!

School Evaluation Summary

Here is the link to my School Evaluation Summary.  For this assignment, I assessed my employer, Wake Forest School of Medicine's MD Program.

BYOD-Benefitting Medical Students and Patients

Talk about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) benefiting education!  Check out how medical students from the University of Pittsburgh have created an app to assess a patient's response to their clinical performance.  Very cool!  Check out this article from govtech.com

Summer Accomplishment

While I don't have a major professional accomplishment to report, my husband and I are excited to have made it to the third trimester of my pregnancy with no complications or concerns.

You see, our daughter (now 3) was born at 33 weeks at a whopping 3 lbs 11 oz.  Even at the 28 week mark, my doctor noticed that I wasn't measuring on schedule and sent me for an ultrasound every 2 weeks, but no one expected the partial abruption that was to occur.  In the end, Caroline is happy and healthy and we're all praying for the same outcome for Baby #2 (which Caroline is affectionately calling "Biscuit"...maybe I should lay off the carbs!)  Fingers crossed...just 10 more weeks to go!

2 days old (and FYI, that is a preemie paci in her mouth).
She was so tiny!

Just after her first bath in the NICU

Favorite link for the lifelong learner

https://www.coursera.org/

Coursera is a free resource that offers online learning modules, developed by leading educators at universities and organizations from around the world.  Topics span all areas of interest and are available to anyone for free at any time. 

At Wake Forest School of Medicine, we have often used Coursera learning modules for faculty and staff development.  Most MDs do not have formal training as educators, yet we expect them to teach medical students, residents, as well as their patients and their families every day.  We also ask them to design curriculum as they are the content experts.  Coursera is a helpful tool that has allowed the Department of Medical Education to provide our teaching faculty with resources to grow their skills as educators in a free, asynchronous way. 

I have personally taken courses through Coursera, for both professional development and personal development.   A sampling of the courses I have taken for my own benefit include courses in leadership development, high impact business writing and clinical terminology.   Any time I feel as though I may have a knowledge gap with something I am tasked with at work or even at home, the first thing I do is consult Coursera to see if there is a quick learning module on the topic that will get me up to speed.  Each week, I receive an email from Coursera with new courses available, as well as classes that, based on classes I have taken in the past, may be of interest to me.  With the variety of courses available, Coursera can be a helpful tool to any lifelong learner in an industry or profession.