I have been working on the proposal I have to submit tomorrow (just finished--now accounting must review!) for what we're calling the "Virtual Oncology Practice". It's a simulation for physicians who treat patients with lung cancer. I have been researching the use of simulation in under and grad-medical education so I can talk about it in the proposal slightly knowledgeably. Anyway, in my travels I found this article on Second Life in education.
The authors state that "The purpose of this study was to assess the value of Second Life among post-secondary instructors with experience using Second Life as an educational tool."
Just thought I'd pass along:
http://tomhoodcpa.typepad.com/files/second-life-education-1.pdf
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Learner Support in DE -- Not in Higher Ed (Unit 11)
Chapter 9 of the text focuses on real student support concerns in higher education--library, counseling, and help desk.
This made me wonder about learner support outside of the higher ed realm.
In my organization, we have many DE programs on clinical topics. Physicians and nurses get continuing education credit for these activities and must have appropriate paperwork to document their completion of the activity (and passing of the post-test). These folks must submit this documentation at regular intervals to maintain their practice licenses.
Right now the type of learner support my organization provides is fairly basic--we provide the documentation participants need for their licensure and answer any questions they have. So far we don't do enough to provide support outside of "regular business hours" but I can imagine for a provider of a great deal of DE, this would be necessary. Other than that, there are not a lot of support services that we provide now or may need to provide.
What about others who are working in DE outside of higher ed? What type of learner support does your organization provide?
This made me wonder about learner support outside of the higher ed realm.
In my organization, we have many DE programs on clinical topics. Physicians and nurses get continuing education credit for these activities and must have appropriate paperwork to document their completion of the activity (and passing of the post-test). These folks must submit this documentation at regular intervals to maintain their practice licenses.
Right now the type of learner support my organization provides is fairly basic--we provide the documentation participants need for their licensure and answer any questions they have. So far we don't do enough to provide support outside of "regular business hours" but I can imagine for a provider of a great deal of DE, this would be necessary. Other than that, there are not a lot of support services that we provide now or may need to provide.
What about others who are working in DE outside of higher ed? What type of learner support does your organization provide?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
"Clearly Stated Objectives"? (Unit 10)
This past week we compared two DE courses using the objectives criteria in our “Delivering Digitally” text.
As I did this, I compared our current course to one done by my organization—a “self-contained” archived internet CME program. One of the questions for the comparison was whether the objectives were stated clearly.
It appears that most of us (so far) have declared that the objectives for our course comparisons were stated clearly, though there are quite a few who (like me) feel that the objective of “gain knowledge in…..” for ADTED 531 is pretty vague and perhaps unmeasurable. But several people answered that the objectives were stated clearly by a stating that the objectives were clearly displayed—emphasizing that the objectives were on the syllabus or were visible to the learner before the course.
I wrote about this in the discussion board, but as the week has gone on, I am thinking about what the statement/criterion of "clearly stated objectives" means.
So while the statements of objectives may be visible and prominent, I don’t think that’s the same as actually being “clearly stated.” Maybe I am being very literal here, but to me, “clearly stated” means that they make sense, are understandable, are logical, and are in fact measurable.
Here are some objectives for an activity that I am developing right now for my organization—it’s focused on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC):
Following this program, participants should be able to:
Use histology to select the best treatment regimen for patients with NSCLC.
Use gene mutation analysis to select the best treatment regimen for patients with NSCLC.
Determine whether stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), minimally invasive surgery, or conventional open surgery is appropriate for their patients with early stage NSCLC.
These strike me as pretty clear and absolutely measurable—we will use pre-posttests, performance in the activity case studies, and post-activity evaluations and interviews to assess the effectiveness of the activity.
What are others’ thoughts on this? And perhaps you have some other objectives from your own practice settings to share.
As I did this, I compared our current course to one done by my organization—a “self-contained” archived internet CME program. One of the questions for the comparison was whether the objectives were stated clearly.
It appears that most of us (so far) have declared that the objectives for our course comparisons were stated clearly, though there are quite a few who (like me) feel that the objective of “gain knowledge in…..” for ADTED 531 is pretty vague and perhaps unmeasurable. But several people answered that the objectives were stated clearly by a stating that the objectives were clearly displayed—emphasizing that the objectives were on the syllabus or were visible to the learner before the course.
I wrote about this in the discussion board, but as the week has gone on, I am thinking about what the statement/criterion of "clearly stated objectives" means.
So while the statements of objectives may be visible and prominent, I don’t think that’s the same as actually being “clearly stated.” Maybe I am being very literal here, but to me, “clearly stated” means that they make sense, are understandable, are logical, and are in fact measurable.
Here are some objectives for an activity that I am developing right now for my organization—it’s focused on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC):
Following this program, participants should be able to:
Use histology to select the best treatment regimen for patients with NSCLC.
Use gene mutation analysis to select the best treatment regimen for patients with NSCLC.
Determine whether stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), minimally invasive surgery, or conventional open surgery is appropriate for their patients with early stage NSCLC.
These strike me as pretty clear and absolutely measurable—we will use pre-posttests, performance in the activity case studies, and post-activity evaluations and interviews to assess the effectiveness of the activity.
What are others’ thoughts on this? And perhaps you have some other objectives from your own practice settings to share.
Friday, November 19, 2010
What at least one university is looking for with regard to DE
I was cruising the job listings in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and found an interesting ad. I thought I'd share it here to show what at least one university is doing to help move toward more DE.
And the position is available at the University of the Sciences (in Philadelphia), if anyone's interested!
------------------------------------------
Position Title: Instructional DesignerDepartment: Academic Technology
Reports to: Executive Director of Academic Technology
Position summary: The Instructional Designer will provide instructional as well as program design expertise for the development and support of hybrid courses, online courses, and specialized educational programs. This position is responsible for managing the instructional development process, setting standards for assisting faculty in the design of online curriculum and instruction, development of learning resources, and retooling of courses and course segments for online delivery methods.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
--Develop and institute instructional and pedagogical policies for the creation and delivery of online courses.
--Collaborate with faculty on instructional design issues and manage online course development. --Train and support faculty in the use of the learning management system (Blackboard/Angel) with special attention to building quality online learning programs, and online learning best practices via face-to-face workshops, webinars, and self-study screencast modules.
--Develop curriculum guides for courses and/or program components. Provide design and production assistance and supervise student workers to help faculty in the development of online content.
Education and Experience: Bachelor's degree required (Master's degree preferred) in Instructional Technology, Educational Technology, Technical Communication, or related field 3-5 years of experience in online course and curriculum design in higher education. Experience incorporating technology in a classroom setting and working with university faculty Experience with graphic and multimedia authoring software is a plus.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required: Advanced knowledge of principle and practices of instructional design and e-learning; familiarity with multimedia and web design technology Excellent written and verbal communication skills; interpersonal skills; customer service orientation and ability to work in a team environment.
This position requires a highly motivated, take charge individual with a proven track record as a self-starter with excellent organizational skills.
And the position is available at the University of the Sciences (in Philadelphia), if anyone's interested!
------------------------------------------
Position Title: Instructional DesignerDepartment: Academic Technology
Reports to: Executive Director of Academic Technology
Position summary: The Instructional Designer will provide instructional as well as program design expertise for the development and support of hybrid courses, online courses, and specialized educational programs. This position is responsible for managing the instructional development process, setting standards for assisting faculty in the design of online curriculum and instruction, development of learning resources, and retooling of courses and course segments for online delivery methods.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
--Develop and institute instructional and pedagogical policies for the creation and delivery of online courses.
--Collaborate with faculty on instructional design issues and manage online course development. --Train and support faculty in the use of the learning management system (Blackboard/Angel) with special attention to building quality online learning programs, and online learning best practices via face-to-face workshops, webinars, and self-study screencast modules.
--Develop curriculum guides for courses and/or program components. Provide design and production assistance and supervise student workers to help faculty in the development of online content.
Education and Experience: Bachelor's degree required (Master's degree preferred) in Instructional Technology, Educational Technology, Technical Communication, or related field 3-5 years of experience in online course and curriculum design in higher education. Experience incorporating technology in a classroom setting and working with university faculty Experience with graphic and multimedia authoring software is a plus.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required: Advanced knowledge of principle and practices of instructional design and e-learning; familiarity with multimedia and web design technology Excellent written and verbal communication skills; interpersonal skills; customer service orientation and ability to work in a team environment.
This position requires a highly motivated, take charge individual with a proven track record as a self-starter with excellent organizational skills.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Virtual Reality Getting Closer
As I have shared, my organization is working toward developing a virtual reality type of simulation program/course for oncologists. It's getting closer and I am in the process of preliminary program development as part of the proposal development process.
The grant request is due December 1, so I have loads of time.
We are in the nitty gritty details of the simulation company tech guy talking to my organization's IT people, figuring out who will host and bandwidth concerns, working out a Non-Disclosure Agreement (confidentiality agreement), developing a Master Services Agreement for if/when the project starts, developing the budget, determining clinical focus and content, etc. I am also researching simulation as training method so as to incorporate theoretical/research content in the proposal.
Fun! :)
The grant request is due December 1, so I have loads of time.
We are in the nitty gritty details of the simulation company tech guy talking to my organization's IT people, figuring out who will host and bandwidth concerns, working out a Non-Disclosure Agreement (confidentiality agreement), developing a Master Services Agreement for if/when the project starts, developing the budget, determining clinical focus and content, etc. I am also researching simulation as training method so as to incorporate theoretical/research content in the proposal.
Fun! :)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Typical DE Program at Community College
I found an interesting report published in March 2010 by the Instructional Technology Council on DE in the Community College setting (wish I'd had it a few units ago!).
Of note, the report synthesized six years of survey data to say that the typical online program at a Community College:
1. Is the primary source for enrollment growth for its institution.
2. Does not offer enough classes to meet student demand.
3. Increases access to higher education.
4. Is attracting an increasing number of nontraditional (for DE - younger) students.
5. Reports to the academic side of the institution (dean or above).
6. Is under-staffed, working in cramped conditions, and has an inadequate budget.
7. Offers approximately 160 online classes/class sections each semester.
8. Has become a significant change-agent, prompting increased faculty training and professional development, rethinking how we teach, and providing a catalyst for integrating technology into instruction.
9. Often leads the institution in dealing with issues of assessment, design, rigor, course quality and learning.
10. Struggles to obtain understanding, acceptance and support from campus leaders, who often lack direct experience with this method of teaching and learning (sometimes a generational disconnect).
See link here:
http://www.itcnetwork.org/file.php?file=%2F1%2FITCAnnualSurvey2009Results.pdf
I thought the items above were interesting and perhaps may apply to other institutions, not just community colleges. I especially loved #6. :)
Let me know your thoughts on this.
Thanks!
Of note, the report synthesized six years of survey data to say that the typical online program at a Community College:
1. Is the primary source for enrollment growth for its institution.
2. Does not offer enough classes to meet student demand.
3. Increases access to higher education.
4. Is attracting an increasing number of nontraditional (for DE - younger) students.
5. Reports to the academic side of the institution (dean or above).
6. Is under-staffed, working in cramped conditions, and has an inadequate budget.
7. Offers approximately 160 online classes/class sections each semester.
8. Has become a significant change-agent, prompting increased faculty training and professional development, rethinking how we teach, and providing a catalyst for integrating technology into instruction.
9. Often leads the institution in dealing with issues of assessment, design, rigor, course quality and learning.
10. Struggles to obtain understanding, acceptance and support from campus leaders, who often lack direct experience with this method of teaching and learning (sometimes a generational disconnect).
See link here:
http://www.itcnetwork.org/file.php?file=%2F1%2FITCAnnualSurvey2009Results.pdf
I thought the items above were interesting and perhaps may apply to other institutions, not just community colleges. I especially loved #6. :)
Let me know your thoughts on this.
Thanks!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Learning objectives (Unit 9)
Learning objectives are something I work with in my professional setting all the time. All of my organization's continuing medical education activities must have objectives in order for us to offer credits to physicians and nurses.
And it is a huge pain in the neck for us! Our clinical writers who give the background information on the topic for the activity we're planning usually provide draft objectives. But they are typically not behavioral at all. The almost always start with "Understand...". If we were just concerned about simple accreditation of activities, it would not be a problem. But since every activity we do is funded by outside grants that I am responsible for, and the general CME environment is trying to change performance, not knowledge, these knowledge-based objectives are not appropriate. We always have to rewrite them but of course since we're not clinicians ourselves, we naturally have to get them reviewed again.
This is just one example, but I'd be curious about how many people actually are in a position to write their own program's learning objectives.
Can you do this or is it up to the content experts? Or is it, as in my organization, a combination of the two?
And it is a huge pain in the neck for us! Our clinical writers who give the background information on the topic for the activity we're planning usually provide draft objectives. But they are typically not behavioral at all. The almost always start with "Understand...". If we were just concerned about simple accreditation of activities, it would not be a problem. But since every activity we do is funded by outside grants that I am responsible for, and the general CME environment is trying to change performance, not knowledge, these knowledge-based objectives are not appropriate. We always have to rewrite them but of course since we're not clinicians ourselves, we naturally have to get them reviewed again.
This is just one example, but I'd be curious about how many people actually are in a position to write their own program's learning objectives.
Can you do this or is it up to the content experts? Or is it, as in my organization, a combination of the two?
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