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.

Technology Use Planning Overview

“Technology Use Planning Overview”

1. The “Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional Technology Plan” defines technology planning as “an activity that provides direction and helps users understand clearly where they are now and imagine where they want to be.”  I would absolutely agree with this definition and have had the opportunity to play an active role in technology planning.

At Wake Forest School of Medicine (WFSM), we have been highly engaged in technology planning over the past year, as we plan to move to a new campus and prepare for a LCME (Liaison Committee on Medical Education) accreditation visit in 2016.  I have seen firsthand the importance of:

• Having all stakeholders at the table.
• Knowing the current needs and future direction of the curriculum.
• Understanding the LCME standards and how they apply to a learning management system (LMS) or use of technology embedded within the curriculum.  

2. The National Educational Technology Plan 2010 provides a blueprint for developing a technology plan.  It also provides guidelines to educators about how to effectively and comprehensively cover all bases when developing a plan.  
3. While I do agree with See that technology use plans need to be short term (not long term plans) and like his idea of phases, I’m not sure that is practical in most work environments.  Most technology is expensive to purchase and is most often a major line item in the budget.  Just developing the plan costs schools staff and faculty effort, not to mention the time and cost incurred to implement.  Therefore, while I agree that technology is a fast moving target and changes constantly, I cannot see it being practical to do major technology use planning annually.
4. See comments that “effective technology plans focus on applications, not technology”, meaning that plans need to be output, rather than input based.  
5. I do agree with See that technology plans should focus on the output.  It is important to know the goals of your curriculum or the logistics that support your curriculum before making decisions on technology.  
6. As I mentioned earlier, I have been involved with technology planning for about a year now.  At WFSM, we were using a homegrown LMS system for all four years that worked for basic functions but it did not have the capability to map our curriculum (an LCME requirement).  We have had to purchase two other systems to correct this issue (LCMS+ for preclinical education and Canvas for clinical education).  While it could seem excessive, it was critical in order to meet the demands of LCME and the logistic and delivery needs of our curriculum.  While some outcomes are good (being LCME compliant for example), we are currently in the painful period of implementation.  It has difficult been to operate three different systems (we are still using our homegrown system for patient tracking (a different LCME standard)) and train staff and faculty on what the purpose of each system and how to use it effectively.  

I have used RSS Feeds personally but do not utilize them professionally.  In WFSM Medical Education, we rely more on list serves than RSS Feeds.

Instead of focusing on Medical Education specifically, I chose to look for RSS Feeds on Higher Education for my RSS Feed Assignment.

This week's assignment...tackle Zotero!  I was unaware of this resource and didn't realize how helpful it could be (for FREE)!  I chose to research patient simulation.  Click here to see my assignment.

Horizon Report Follow up...

Over the past 100 years or so, the MD curriculum format has remained the same-2 years of pre-clinical (basic science) curriculum, followed by 2 years of strictly clinical curriculum.  Think of it this way 2 years in the classroom, 2 years in the field.  There is currently momentum moving throughout medical schools nationwide to revamp and rethink the way we educate future doctors.

The Horizon Report is a resource that the most experienced educators monitor each year to keep up with the trends and technology in higher education.  We are no different at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

As we build a new MD campus (opening in 2016) in the Innovation Quarter of Downtown Winston Salem, we are looking for ways to update how we deliver our curriculum.  We have purposefully designed our new space to accommodate some of the trends and technologies mentioned in the Horizon report.

Some examples include:

1. All spaces will be built to accommodate the flipped classroom model.  Even the furniture in our largest lecture hall will be adaptable to group learning.  
2. Currently our students often BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), but our new space will include the infrastructure needed to facilitate technology in a better way than in our current space.
3. A Clinical Skills Center will be built (most exciting to me!) and there is potential to utilize adaptive learning technologies.

Very exciting times here at Wake Forest School of Medicine for all students, faculty and staff!

New home as of July 2016

Go Deacs!

Tech Trends Lesson Plan
Meredith Phillips

Physical Exam Maneuvers & Student Assessment

Summary:  

It is often difficult to recruit MD faculty away from their busy schedules to have them serve as evaluators of physical exam maneuvers during medical student Standardized Patient Assessments. With adequate and proper training, standardized patients could play an invaluable role and serve as the evaluators of these skills. 

Using a flipped classroom model, I have created a lesson plan where SPs will complete a series of online modules and quizzes before participating in a series of corresponding classroom/hands on training sessions with a qualified MD.  Classroom/hands on sessions will include demonstration, role play and evaluative exercises.

Click here to access full lesson plan.   

Horizon Report Summary

Hi all!

Click link below to view my assignment this week:
Summary of the Horizon Report's Technology Trends

I hope you all have a fun and safe 4th of July!

Carthage, NC Parade 2014

This week's assignment is a narrated presentation on one aspect of the Digital Divide, along with creating and assessment tool.  Since I work in higher education and the conversation about the use of technology in Medical School comes up frequently, I chose to study the Digital Divide from the perspective of higher education.  Below is my narrated video, along with my assessment tool:

Create your own user feedback survey

I'm sure you've all seen the internet meme's about you do vs. what people think you do, right?

Well, I can tell you there is no such meme for those of us who manage Standardized Patients, although I definitely think there should be!  When people ask what I do for a living and I tell them I manage the Standardized Patient (SP) Program (among many other responsibilities in the Clinical Education realm) at Wake Forest School of Medicine, I usually get a puzzled look and a reference to the video below:

While I can definitely can appreciate the humor and have met SPs like Kramer, most days don't look like that for me and wouldn't exactly fly in a high stakes clinical skills assessment.  

I was excited to begin the recorded lecture assignment because I saw an opportunity to tackle something that has been on my To Do List at work for a while.  I chose to create my recorded lecture based on suggested topic #2:

A "How To" video on a skill that directly relates to your profession.

Being an SP is a unique and rewarding job!  SPs are truly one of our most valuable teaching tools!  If after watching the video, you think you would make a great SP and live in the Winston-Salem area, please reach out to me.  Thanks for watching!

Hi everyone!

I have created a glog to answer the question:
Where do you see technology taking your profession/education in the next 5 years?

My particular profession is medical education but believe the same trends for higher education apply.

Please view my glog below:

Hello!

I have created this blog as an assignment for the Education Technology in Health Sciences course I am taking through Western Carolina University's MHS program.  While I enjoy reading blogs and find them quite useful at times, this is my first attempt at blogging myself.

See my personal introduction video below:

I have posted some personal photos below that best represent how my time is spent outside of work and what is important to me.

My husband, David, and I are both Appalachian State University graduates and can be found most weekends in the fall attending a football game in Boone.  Our daughter, Caroline (3 years old) is a big fan of Yosef!  We are expecting a baby in October. So, that may put a little bit of damper on football season this year, but we'll be cheering on the mountaineers from home for (at least a couple of games anyway).

 

Despite the fact that I don't live in a mountainous region, I come from a family of skiers.  When I was 8 years old, my parents joined the Volunteer Ski Patrol at Sugar Mountain Resort.  My sister and I decided to join them at age 15 and have been involved ever since.  Naturally when David and I got married,  he had to join the rest of the family, as he got tired of being the only one who had to wait in the lift line.

We spend most winters on the mountain, providing first aid to the public and enjoying being outdoors and our favorite sport.  Caroline already has 2 years of skiing in the books and loves it!  The faster the better!

When not spending time in the Boone area, I enjoy an occasional trip to the Outer Banks, running, playing tennis and am learning the sport of mountain biking.  We are also active in our church and love spending time with extended family and friends!

I look forward to learning more throughout this course and posting in the future!