As you can see from my original post in my
wiki I thought I knew after just a couple of weeks what e-learning was all about and the role of wiki and other web 2.0 sites. How wrong was I, very. Following my
participation in the
mobile phone wiki and searching through other
students blogs and some personal reflection I realised that I had it all wrong. The wiki activity utilising de bonos hats for analysis of my thoughts, opinions and understanding of the use of mobile phones in the classroom was the trigger. I did not even consider their capacity to act as a tool to assist in the students learning. Nor did I understand that from the perspective of a younger than me student that has always been 'connected' to have this removed/restricted/under utilised or not utilised may well see them zoning out prior to a word being said. My opinions, as you can see in
green text and later in my
blog, were very naive and closed to this new world of e-learning and web 2.0 tools. My higher order thinking was non existent, I was dwelling in the past. This was evident when my understanding improved with the introduction to
Blooms taxonomy and more over the revised version. I was lumbering in the lower levels of thinking with limited if any critical analysis, evaluation and certainly no creativity. I am very appreciative that the theories of learning are contained in the first few weeks of the course material as this is my first course in university, ever. My progress towards higher order thinking has begun.
Wiki and wiki activity
As was the case for the majority of the web 2.0 tools explored in this course to date, wiki was new to me. My knowledge of wiki was Wikipedia and thanks to Julian Assange, Wikileaks. My understanding was very limited, I had no idea that others could add/edit others pages and that it is basically a melting pot of higher order thinking, in most cases any way. I created my own
wiki and have only added some minor thoughts and self reflection. It is easy however to see the potential of wiki as an educational tool. A scaffolded, moderated and topic specific wiki for students to discuss and develop their higher order thinking is boundless. It can connect students from anywhere in the world, or in my case the entire Central Queensland Ambulance community. It has the ability to embed almost any forms of media and in this digital age coupled with the expectations of connected students this is absolutely necessary. The specifics of students that I provide educational sessions and material to are all adult learners employed by the Queensland Ambulance Service. The service utilises a managed operating environment for all computer based online and offline activities. There are many automated blocking descriptors that prevent access to many web sites and further to this may allow access to the site but prevent the ability to edit, this is the case for wiki and blogger. This will limit the ability to use these sites effectively for staff on station during work time only. As employees of the service there are also very specific and stringent internet policies and procedures to adhere too, these ensure compliance with government policy and community expectations. The factors of adult students and departmental policy provide an increased level of assurance/compliance when analysing working legally, safely and ethically. There would still be a requirement to familiarise students with the requirement to provide referencing and attribution when and where it is required. I plan to use my wiki site to provide a single location for a variety of topics starting with the latest update for clinical practice for paramedics as shown on the embedded video on my blog for the
sedation assessment tool.
Blogs and blogging
Blogging, primarily reflective blogging has been a very strong learning experience for me. It is good to be able to go back to the bottom of the posts and see my development from lower order thinking to my development through understanding to higher order thinking.
My blog posts have developed from containing
simple text to
pictures,
music, video,
charts, SWOT analysis but more importantly it has assisted in development from lower level thinking to higher order thinking. Now I am certainly not saying that blogs and blogging will develop higher order thinking, some of the blogs I have seen will do the
opposite, it was the content and context of the blogging that has lead to my development and this is continuing to produce this result for me personally. The blog itself has a very user friendly aspect to it, allowing frequent posts and editing of previous posts (just not from my work computer). The ability to embed many forms of media and links allow diversity of content and full utilisation of the technology available to assist with learning and varying pedagogy. As another web 2.0 tool it affords itself to social connectivism and collectivism. With these fundamentals in place and once again ensuring a moderated and scaffolded structure for its use in a learning/educational environment for adult employees it has solid credentials for use. I would like to use a blog as a site for information dissemination similar to the widely unknown
emergency service blog. There is also a place for students to have blogs to display their own personal learning journey, maybe exactly like CQUniversity has set up this course for instance,
where the lecturer/educator access, (a bit obvious really wasn't it). There are the issues once again for blog editing as discussed in the wiki and wiki activity section of this blog for my students. As a tool to produce an educational or learning environment, the scaffolded and moderated blog has a large part to play for both the students development and the educators ability to assess the students development.
Weebly Website
Websites or web 1.0 definitely has a large part to play in the modern learning environment for the provision of quality education. As a
long term employee (see about me at link) of the Queensland Ambulance Service I have witnessed the evolution of the
ambulance website and
department portal. Now the ambulance has recently developed and published a website dedicated to
clinical practice. This is a far more modern website developed utilising a wide variety of digital media tools like video and even a
downloadable app for smart phones that
outlines approved clinical practice. I have created a
weebly web site for the purposes of the course, it has very little content but I can see the potential and ease of website development. I discussed my weebly experience on
my blog at a very low order thinking level. I have intentionally left my original posting as it helps me recognise my development with progression towards higher order thinking. The web based 1.0 sites in an educational learning environment where in my situation staff are spread over a massive geographical location is essential. The publishing rights, therefore editing of dedicated professional sites (with regard to the sites I have mentioned) provide assurance of their legitimacy, expert content, legality, safety and ethics. Sites that have the
domain suffix of edu, org, gov also fit into the mentioned professional category. Web sites allow for the dissemination of information to people across an organisation or the world. Access can be restricted to the site by the editor affording some copyright ability. Web sites are being used widely in paramedic education and their continued use is essential for clinical governance and performance.
Digital Video
Whether it is live streamed video into a classroom or embedded video of an educational session on a web site the importance to visual/practical learners is immense. In my experience the vast majority of ambulance employees are learners of the visual/practical persuasion. I have conducted a
SWOT critical analysis on digital video to identify its practical use in paramedic education and posted the table in my blog. The use of live streamed video in my experience has been of great importance. As a Flight intensive care paramedic I have been sent to hospitals with no Doctors to retrieve patients that are critically ill. Most of these hospitals have the ability to live stream video and audio in and out. This enables direct contact with senior Physicians in Brisbane to assist in the assessment of these patients and develop management plans prior to retrieval, lifesaving to say the least in some situations. In terms of education the ambulance has embraced for some time now the embedding of digital videos into the departments portal for viewing across the state. This allows for consistency, equity, efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery educational and clinical updates. Targeting visual learners with pedagogy based around digital video and readily accessible in their workplace is essential in such a large geographical area. The process to ensure learning outcomes for the paramedics are achieved still requires some sort of assessment, at present, this portion is lacking in some areas of education that are using digital video as a means for the provision of learning material.
Prezi the zooming presentation tool
Prezi was new to me until around 3 months ago when I went to a conference and one of the
presenters used this tool. Wow, it really opened my eyes and I was absorbed in the lecture. I know now that the presenter could have used a stone and slate, he had it all going for him, highly experienced, well traveled, commitment to life long learning the list goes on and on, slight lecturer envy, yes. It is now obvious he understood and utilised the
TPACK framework. Why is all that relevant, well it started my interest in modern ways to keep students focused during long didactic lectures (they are necessary sometimes) and I saw prezi as the tool I could incorporate into my pedagogy (I didn't know what pedagogy was back then, the presenter also provided me with the kick in the pants to get started with my own learning journey). I developed a
prezi on pain management to assist in the delivery of a massive amount of theory to second year student paramedics, the feedback I have received for this prezi has been positive to date. I have posted on my blog a
SWOT critical analysis of the prezi tool for its use as an educational delivery format in an ambulance environment. The ambulance service has a constant need for the utilisation of a delivery format like the
prezi zooming presentation tool. There are three to six monthly clinical updates that are required for presentation to staff as well as other management related performance presentations every six months that could utilise prezi instead of the usual 200+ power point slide show. The important point to remember is that prezi like any presentation tool will become just like the 'death by power point' we have all suffered if the lecturer does not follow the TPACK framework.
The utilisation of the TPACK framework in conjunction with higher order thinking are essential components in the makeup of a modern well rounded educator. The tools at the disposal of an educator is overwhelming, there is an app, blog, wiki and web site for everything and everyone claims to be an expert. Its our ability, through our own knowledge, to wade through this information to provide the best possible learning environment for students to obtain results. The lights are finally coming on so to speak. They were definitely dim prior, they are not shining brightly yet either, I at least now recognise I have a life of learning ahead of me, the best part is I look forward to it. It is a steep learning curve but I feel I am finally on my way.
