Blog #1

Power has been off for several days since Hurricane Irene attacked the city of Baltimore. Schools have been closed at the onset of a new school year by three days. Businesses including area supermarkets also closed. Communities across Baltimore are asking when will the lights come on. It’s interesting that the crime rate did not go up. The news is full of stories of fallen trees that damaged cars and houses. McDonalds and other restaurants that manage to have power are making monies off of those without power. I am lucky that my power has been restored in time for tonight's first blog entry. My goal tonight is to implement my first posting, invite Dr. Wright to comment and reflect on experiences within course and my own experience with technology.

I am familiar with the concept of blogging as a tool for reflecting journaling. As a psychiatric-mental health nurse, I have used reflective journaling as part of a psychiatric consumer’s treatment plan to assist those we affectionately termed, “the worried well.” Basically, the journaling help the consumer to gain insight into their thoughts and feelings. This is my first attempt at blogging.

I would like to begin by saying that I was so excited about being accepted into this unique doctoral program so far from Baltimore, Maryland. As I scanned the description of this particular course, I was pleasantly surprised that it would reignite my passion in nursing education, using technology in the delivery of course content. As expected, I just knew that we (students) would be involved in some form of group work to demonstrate mastery of course objectives. I must admit that I was equally surprised by the number of my cohorts who did not have a wealth of exposures to technology in the classroom beyond mobile devices, powerpoints and social networking.

A burning question for me is, “Do we really need to blog at all?” Especially with so many persons using Facebook and Twitter to post self-reflections to a comment window multiple times a day.  Do these people really have a life. Real time communication between individuals has been replaced with mobile devices use to communicate with a faceless audience. I tend to read and scroll down my News Feed.

I have been teaching for 15 years. The introduction of technology to Coppin State University faculty occurred late 2004 and early 2005 with the placement of computers in faculty offices and the removal of typewriters. Faculty mini-grants were offered to encourage use of technology in the classroom. 20 of my brave colleagues (including me) stepped up to the plate by writing proposals on how we would integrate technology into our specialty areas. I chose to develop and  incorporate PowerPoints into a Community Health Nursing Course using the smart classroom console. We have come a long way. With emerging technology over the years, it’s so hard to keep up with what is the latest technology for classroom usage.

From the course overview, it appears that I will be exposed to current technologies. It was interesting to me that wikis were introduced as a potential tool to assist in group work. I thought to myself, this will be beneficial as we moved through the program to facilitate group projects. I have used wikis on a limited basis because most of my colleagues are unfamiliar with it. During the face to face class, group members were digesting all that they heard or seen. My group organized themselves really well, exchanging phone numbers, and enrolling in PBworks. The biggest task was to read over instructions and divide the work. My goal is to log into PBworks to read about all of its functions in anticipation for more group work.