Online Course Design Tools

I worked with a colleague for about 5 hours yesterday on the design and edits for an online Oncology Nurse Navigator course which will begin at the end of January. My colleague is teaching the course.  I assist her by providing technical support for students, covering instruction  in her absence, and providing course design assistance.  We expect an enrollment of 15 students, all who are experienced registered nurses and work in cancer care settings.

We discussed strategies to assist students to be successful in the course without any face-to-face meetings.  The last time we taught the course we did have a couple face-to-face meetings.  We recognize that it may not be possible for the students to meet face-to-face because of their work schedules or because they live at a distance (several applicants are from out-of-state).  Below are some of the topics that we discussed that might be helpful to other instructors.

Strategies for Designing and Editing an Online Course

• Use OpenOffice to create the learning content as html documents.  Rationale:  OpenOffice has the "look and feel" of Microsoft Word, but it generates much cleaner html code that is easily edited in Blackboard and other learning management systems.  Graphics can be copied/pasted into an OpenOffice document and the software will automatically save the graphic in an html compatible format with a name similar to that of the document.
• Develop a file structure naming process that uses numbers.  If the learning mangement system alphabetizes files, like Blackboard, the structured naming system makes it a snap to add the files to a learning module.  The file naming process that I use is noted below, although I abbreviate the words to Intro, Assign, and Assess.
• 1_Introduction
• 1a_Objectives_Assignments
• 1b_Assessment
• 2_Introduction
• 2a_Objectives_Assignments
• 2b_Assessment
• Use WebDav to synchronize files.  Create a link to the online course in My Network Places and synchronize files from the course folder on the computer with the files in the online course.  I always have a mirror image of my course files offline.

Strategies for Working with Students Online

• Include an orientation module to the learning management system as the first learning module.
• Use information from a Computer Survey (see the previous blog) to identify students who may need additional assistance with technology issues.
• Provide online orientation and other instructor support with webinar software.  (Note: Our university does not have webinar software available, so we discussed using DimDim).
• Show students how to use PowerPoint with narration for class presentations (Another blog).

Other topics that we discussed and practiced using included a computer video camera to provide the personal touch to online instruction.  We also dicussed the use of Microsoft OneNote software for screen captures and other notes.  The comparable software solution that is free is Evernote (https://www.evernote.com/) (Yet, another blog). 

Computer Literacy Survey

I created a computer literacy survey that I use in my online and hybrid (meet both face-to-face and online) courses.  I will attach the survey to this blog as a Word document.  Instructors and others are welcome to use it.  Instructors could adapt it for their courses to obtain a baseline assessment of the students' computer literacy skills.

Students and others could use it as a self-assessment tool.  The survey has instructional value in that it assists the learner to identify key information about their computer.  You are welcome to download and adapt the survey for your personal use from http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/ComputerSurvey.doc

The survey is written for the PC, but if you are interested in having one created for the Mac computer, just ask.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Updates on the Informatics and Nursing textbook web site

The textbook support web site at http://dlthede.net/Informatics/AddtionsCorrect.html has been updated to include many of the informatics listserve conversation topics.  The updates are noted below.

Batteries
The issue of mobile computer carts and battery life remains a hot topic!  Batterystuff. A tutorial on all kinds of batteries supports information that in Chapter 2.  http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_battery.html

If you are don't have a basic understanding about batteries, you may want to begin with the How Stuff Works web site at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/battery.htm  and
Wikipedia on batteries. A very thorough explanation including estimates of length of discharge and life expectancy of various types. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_(electricity)

Review Site for the ANCC Informatics Certification Exam
Certification in Nursing Informatics was developed by graduate and post-graduate nursing informatics students at Duke University School of Nursing http://www.duke.edu/web/informatics/index.html . IThe topics addressed are Systems Life Cycle, Human Factors, Information Technology, Information Knowledge Management, Practice Trend Issues,  Models & Theories. 

Secondary Use of Data
Transforming healthcare through secondary use of health data. A 40 page 2009 report by Price-Waterhouse Coopers. You may need to register name etc., but the report is free. Presents an excellent case for secondary data use, includes guidelines. This information supplements Chapter 10.
http://www.medtechpublishing.com/pwc/Transforming-healthcare-through-secondary-use-of-health-data.pdf

Personal Health Records
Proceedings of the Post Conference of NI 2009 Reports on Personal Health Records. This compendium is a full treatise on many of the issues surrounding personal health records. Highly recommended. This information supplements information in Chapter 14.  http://www.uku.fi/vaitokset/2009/isbn978-951-27-1321-9.pdf

Meaningful Use
I anticipate the the topic of meaningful use will continue to be a very hot topic in 2010!  Meaningful Use and Beyond is a presentation by James C. Larson Dec 4, 2009 at the Northern Ohio Health Information Management Systems Society Fall Conference. This pdf file (MUandBeyond) provides an update, plus some of the objectives and support information in Chapter 21.  http://www.nohimss.org//Fall2009Presentations/Fall2009Presentations.htm

New Issue of the JOLT journal

Ed Perry, one of the editors for JOLT emailed information about the December 2009 issue.  JOLT is an open-access journal published by MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching) http://www.merlot.org/   I included a copy of his email below.  The journal article quality is excellent!

"The December 2009 issue of the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) is now online with the contents listed below. In this issue you will find 14 articles concerned with various aspects of online learning and teaching.

We hope you will find several articles of interest and that you will forward this notice to colleagues who might also be interested in JOLT http://jolt.merlot.org/)."

JOLT CONTENTS – December 2009

•  Online Teaching Experience: A Qualitative Metasynthesis (QMS) - Jennie De Gagne and Kelley Walters
• Using the Online Learning Environment to Develop Real-Life Collaboration and Knowledge-Sharing Skills: A Theoretical Discussion and Framework for Online Course Design- Lisl Zach and Denise E. Agosto
• Impact of Video Tutorials in an Online Educational Statistics Course- Thomas A. DeVaney
• Perceptions of Interactions in Online Courses- Doreen Gosmire, Marcia Morrison, and Joanne Van Osdel
• The Impact of a Web-based Homework Tool in University Algebra Courses on Student Learning and Strategies- Angela Hodge, Jennifer C. Richardson, and Cindy S. York
• An Online Math Problem Solving System for Middle School Students Who are Blind- Carole R. Beal and Erin Shaw
• Exploring the Potential and Perceptions of Social Networking Systems in University Courses- John D. Ophus and Jason T. Abbitt
• An Application of Contemporary Learning Theory to Online Course Textbook Selection- Gregory Mostyn
• The Self-assessment of English Language Student-teachers’ Contributions to Online Discussion Forums- Phillip A. Towndrow
• Connecting Students Globally Through Video-Conference Pedagogy- Alyssa J. O’Brien and Christine L. Alfano
• The Benefits of Face-to-Face Interaction in the Online Freshman Composition Course- Samuel B Howard
• Are College Students Prepared for a Technology-Rich Learning Environment- Victoria Ratliff
• The Narrative Case Study Meets Hypertext: Case Studies in the Digital Age- Meghan Griffin
• Promoting Online Collaborative Social Learning Communities with Student Response Systems- Kathleen Klein

Facebook and Security Issues

Facebook (FB) security issues have been in the news recently.  The topic peaked my interest because I have been a victim of Facebook spam.  As an example, I recieved two wall postings (identical) from friends (see figure below). 

I have been so consumed with grading and finalizing courses for fall semester, that I had not checked by FB page until I was double-checking security settings.  I did notice the Remove button and quickly removed the postings.  The last time my FB was spammed was in the FB email.

FB displayed a pop-up window with information about security this morning (see figure below).

All of us who are FB users should take a few minutes to educate themselves about social networking security.  Start with reading the FB Guide to security at http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php

PC World has an excellent article entitled Protect your Privacy on Facebook and Twitter in the  December 2009 issue.  It is available online at http://www.pcworld.com/article/172604/protect_your_privacy_on_facebook_and_twitter.html

Finally, I noted a CNET article this morning about FB suing three men under three laws: the Can-Spam (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the California Anti-Phishing Act and the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. One of the accused had a company name of Choko Systems and another had a company named Harm.  Clearly, the company names were advertising the malicious motives.  The article is online at http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10416265-245.html?tag=mncol

Cloud Computing

Information technology (IT) continues to rapidly change.  I read a news story on CNET about Microsoft cloud computing this morning.  Linda reminded me that information on cloud computing needs to be included in the 4th edition of our textbook.  That term makes me smile because of a comment from one of the grad students, CM, who said that IT terminology was baffling because it often uses terms we know in very different ways.  Cloud computing is one of those terms.

Cloud computing refers to the ability to use an application that does not reside on your local computer.  This blog is an example.  Other examples include Gmail, Hotmail, Google docs, Zoho Office. Some applications, like Zoho, allow for purchase of selected applications. 

To get a better understanding, you may find it helpful to view a YouTube video, such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RMWO9JxZjA&NR=1

and/or visit How Stuff Works at http://communication.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing.htm

Although cloud computing has been around for several years, many IT gurus suggest that it will be the wave of the future and save money.  Businesses and education should benefit from the use of cloud computing, but certainly, companies would not be in the business of developing cloud computing if it did not mean increased revenues.

Update on Free Online Webinar Service

Late yesterday afternoon, students in one of my online informatics classes met for face-to-face presentations.  One of the students had to work and was not able to come to campus, but joined us virtually using the DimDim webinar web site.

Earlier in the day I scheduled the webinar to begin at 4 PM and emailed the distant student the URL for the Webinar site.  She logged into the class when she got home and was able to watch all of the PowerPoint presentations and hear the classroom discussion audio with DimDim.  She used the chat feature to make comments to the students after each presentation.

She had narrated her presentation using PowerPoint and emailed the file ahead of time for presentation during the face-to-face class. 

The students did an awesome job with their projects and presentations!

Personal Health Record (PHR) Report Card

The Patient Privacy Rights group released a report card on five PHRs:

• CapMed-icePHR
  
• Google Health
  
• Microsoft Health Vault
  
• No More Clipboard
  
• WebMD
  
• PHRs offered by employers/insurers
  

You can read the report card at http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PHR_Report_Card

This information supplements chapter 14.

Excel Tools & Templates for Quality Initiatives

The ASQ (American Society for Quality) provides many free Excel tools and templates for quality initiatives in nursing and healthcare. Examples include:

• FMEA (Failure mode & effects analysis)
  
• Fishbone diagram (Cause & effect)
  
• Flowchart template
  
• Gantt chart
  
• Pareto chart
  
• Histogram
  
• Scatter diagram
  

Each tool/template includes instructions, an example, information about the particular tool, and links to additional learning resources about quality. The quality tools and templates can be used for learning activities to supplement chapter 9 on spreadsheets, chapter 24 on administration, and chapter 25 on research. The tools reference The Quality Toolbox, Second Edition, ASQ Quality Press, 2004 by Nancy R. Tague.

Thanks to TJ for sharing!

Meaningful Use for Health Information Technology

Meaningful Use and Beyond (http://www.nohimss.org//Fall2009Presentations/Fall2009Presentations.htm) is a presentation by James C. Larson given on Dec 4, 2009 at the Northern Ohio Health Information Management Systems Society Fall Conference. This PDF file of the presentation slides (MUandBeyond) provides an update, plus some of the objectives and measure for Meaningful Use as it relates to health information technology. Hyperlinks to the Health and Human Services web site at http://healthit.hhs.gov/ are noted in the presentation.

This information was added to the textbook website (http://dlthede.net/Informatics/Informatics.html) to supplement Chapter 21, Healthcare Systems Issues.

E-Prescribing: Boon or Bain?

Note: This entry was written by my co-author, Linda Thede, for this blog. It addresses "unintended consequences" resulting from use of technology. The technical and process issues discussed are relevant to principles of database concepts.

The U.S. government has been pushing e-prescribing as a way to reduce medication errors by eliminating the problems with handwritten prescriptions. There is a tendency to equate e-prescribing with computerized provider order entry (CPOE). CPOE, although not perfect, when it is a part of a coordinated electronic healthcare system, has been shown to reduce medication errors from many causes including, poor handwriting, bad drug interactions, and the wrong dosage.

E-prescribing, however, is NOT CPOE. Nor, to date is there much evidence of its role in reducing medication errors. There are many e-prescribing vendors, but the percentage of physician participants is low. This is despite the fact that the federal government is going to reward its use. The differences between CPOE and e-prescribing are worth noting.

CPOE	E-PRESCRIBING
Is part of an overall electronic system with access to the patient's healthcare record	A stand alone system.
The agency creating the CPOE can verify that all parts of the system work together, e.g., drug allergies, drug interaction problems can be averted.	No connection with any patient information.
Maintained by the same group. Quality can be reinforced and appropriate training as well as remediation provided when needed.	The provider has no control over either what the pharmacist sees when s/he sends the prescription, or the training the pharmacist receives.

As things stand today there are technical and process issues. We are all familiar with the difficulties when two disparate electronic systems try to communicate. If there are differences in the field names or length, information may be either lost or truncated. Formularies differ so that what is ordered may not be what is received. Additionally, patient information about when and how to take can be lost.

When a healthcare provider writes a prescription he expects that the pharmacist will see what is written, whether it is sent as a piece of paper, or with e-prescribing. Unfortunately, with the latter method, this is not always so. Additionally, give a list of drugs and dosages, it is too easy for a provider to select the wrong one. The pharmacist, not having any information to the contrary, would then fill what he or she sees on their screen, which may not be what the provider intended. With a poorly written prescription, the pharmacist can see that there is a problem and contact the physician. The patient, who may have read the prescription, can provide a secondary review.

In e-prescribing, a prescription must be sent to a specific pharmacy, not just a chain. If either the healthcare provider accidentally clicks the wrong pharmacy, or the customer goes to a different pharmacy, the prescription must be tracked down, which at 10PM may be impossible. Interestingly, in Canada, the prescription is sent to a central database and whichever pharmacy the customer goes to retrieves it from that database.

To my knowledge, Ohio is the only state that has made an attempt to regulate the vendors of e-prescribing to try and alleviate some of the above problems. Under Ohio law the Ohio Board of Pharmacy must approve not only the vendor, but also the receiving pharmacy. They also perform verification of both the sent and received messages to determine if there are mistakes, or missing pieces.

This information is based on the presentation "E-prescribing: New Source of Medication Errors ?" by Timothy R Lanese at the Northern Ohio Health Information Management Systems Society Fall Conference on Friday, December 4, 2009 at Embassy Suites, Independence, Ohio. The presentation slides may be found at http://www.nohimss.org//Fall2009Presentations/Fall2009Presentations.html

Google Voice

I finally received approval for Google Voice (GV) today (first request was about 4 weeks ago). In a nutshell, Google Voice provides the user with a couple of options –

• Use their own phone number with several custom options
  
• Use a Google phone number which can ring other phones (eg, home, office, mobile)

I chose the latter option. I have a Google phone number which can ring other personal phones. There are several custom options including alternative answering phone messages and selection of phones to ring. The product is still in the testing mode. As an example, GV was initially unable to successfully ring my home phone number the first couple of times that I tried.  It did work with my office phone!

When a person leaves voice mail, you receive an "interpreted" copy of the audio as a text file.  This is where you have to have a sense of humor and perhaps a little imagination!!  The voice to text is not perfect.  If you miss a phone call, the message is sent to your phone voice mail and a text interpretation of the audio is located in your google voice web site.

One of the upsides is that GV displays all call information from a web page which looks similar to gmail (inbox, history, spam, trash, etc) – see figure below.

According to the web – Microsoft will be offering a comparative product, Bing Ring, in January 2010 (http://www.bbspot.com/News/2009/12/microsoft-bing-ring.html ).

Creating an Excel Chart with a Double Axis

My students are always challenging me and exceeding my expectations in the process. After asking the students to create a combination bar and line chart using Excel, TJ created an awesome chart with a double axis. She gave me permission to share on this blog. Note that the left axis shows the number of falls or pressure ulcers and the right axis shows a comparison with the percent of RNs.
Do learn how to replicate this chart, use the Help button in Excel and search for Secondary Vertical Axis.

Exporting Citations to Zotero from a Digital Library

Had this email request after the Writing for Publication workshop on Thursday -

"hi - I've forgotten a step in saving to ZOTERO.
I downloaded foxfire, ZOTERO, and the WORD plug-in.
I went to GALILEO, found an article , and checked it in folder view.
I see the ZOTERO bar in the lower right of my screen.
I can't remember what to do next.
Thanks!"

(Note: Although this example uses CINAHL with Fulltext from EBSCOHost in the Galileo database, it should work with other digital library databases)
Make sure that you are accessing the digital library using the Firefox web browser.

Open the folder view of the articles that you saved.
Click the Select All box and then click the last icon on the left – Export

On the next window, click the Save button (keep the default – Direct Export to EndNote, ProCite….)

Click on the word Zotero in the bottom-right of the Firefox web browser. You should see all of citations for the articles that you selected in the digital library.

Using Nested Formulas to Calculate a GPA with Excel

I received an email request from a former colleague this week and am posting part of the email with her permission.


"I love your textbook!  I think we'll be using it for our BSN informatics course!!

On another note - I'm pulling my hair out on making a GPA spreadsheet like we used at ___!  I'm going gray over this.  Could you help me out please?  I'll be eternally grateful. :-)"

What she is asking is how to create formulas in Excel to calculate a GPA. Although the formulas may initially look intimidating, they are fairly straightforward. The formulas use If/Then statements. The formulas are based upon the A, B, C, D, F grading scale, where A is worth 4, B is worth 3, C is worth 2, D is worth 1, and F is worth 0 quality points.

My answer is noted below. I will also attach a spreadsheet with the formulas. Note that the formulas below are nested meaning that each one includes several arguments, that is, one for each grade.

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Course	Name	Credits	Grade	Quality PTs	QP/Credits
2	ENG	College Composition I	3

=IF(D2="A",C2,IF(D2="B",C2,IF(D2="C",C2,IF(D2="D",C2,IF(D2="F",C2," ")))))

The formula above in Cell E2 is for quality points.  What it says is that if D2 (Grade) is "A", E2 (Quality Points) is the same value as C2 (Credits) - same for "B", "C", "D", and "F".
 =IF(D2="A",4*E2,IF(D2="B",3*E2,IF(D2="C",2*E2,IF(D2="D",1*E2,IF(D2="F","0","")))))

The formula above in Cell F2 is if D2 (Grade) is "A", multiply 4 times E2 (Quality Points),  - same for "B", "C", "D", and "F" except "B" = 3, "C" = 2, "D" = 1, and "F" =0.

The letter grades are in parenthesis to tell Excel that the letter is a text field.

To download a copy of the spreadsheet, go to http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/GPA_spreadsheet.xls

Downloading eBooks to the iPhone Using Google Books and Stanza Software

I am doing the final preparation for a Writing for Publication workshop this week.  I discovered that I can download some free eBooks, such as Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing and Isabel Hampton Robb's Nursing.  What wonderful resources for courses such as Introduction to Nursing!! 

I wanted to see ways that faculty and students could take an advantage of the eBooks, using a desktop, laptop, PDA, or Smartphone.  I had downloaded Stanza software for the desktop a few weeks ago.  I was able to save the e-book to may iPhone.  This particular feature makes Stanza software superior to Kindle (which can only access books on the Amazon web site) in my opinion.  Stanza software is able to use many file formats (See figure below).

Google books allowed me to save the Nightingale and Hampton Robb books as PDF and ePub file formats.  I chose ePub (Open eBook) for the download.  The steps for transferring the eBook from the computer to the iPhone are noted below.

1. Open Stanza desktop>File>Open menu and selected the eBook from where it is saved.
   
2. Go to Stanza Tools and make sure that Enable Sharing is selected.
3. Connect the iPhone to the computer or make sure that it is connected to the same wireless network as the computer with Stanza desktop.
4. Open Stanza on the iPhone.
5. From the library menu, select Shared Books>Your computer's name.
6. One the desktop computer, grant permission to share the book.
7. Select the book you want to download.

 The entire process took only a couple of minutes and was really easy to do.  The information on how to download eBooks from Stanza is on the software Frequently Asked Questions.

PS - Google Books does have information about copyright and how to avoid copyright infringement.