Apple Watch and Apple Maps

We took a short vacation over Thanksgiving break this week.  The GPS in my car is not as flexible as Google maps.  The car GPS does not give me any choices of routes. I wanted to avoid driving on the Interstate because it is always a nightmare with heavy traffic.  I used Apple Maps app to find a way to get to our destination on my iPhone.  To my surprise, the maps feature showed up on the Apple Watch.  The watch indicated each turn and when it was time to make a turn, it vibrated and signaled with a tone.  The tone for left is different from the tone for turning right.  The automatic sync of the iPhone Map app with the Apple Watch was very nice.

Back to the car GPS and choices for routes.  I can edit a route, but would not be able to do that easily if I am driving.  The Apple Map app was much more accurate for distance and time than the car GPS system.  

SMART Notebook

At the beginning of the semester, I reached out to our University CIO to find resources that I could share with students in the Teaching and Technology course for nurse educators.  That is when I discovered new SMART Notebook features.  All of the classroom computers have SMART Notebook, but I had never used the software and now I know why.  What I did not know is about version 15, which provides a robust audience response system.  The new feature (a subscription) allows the instructor to ask polling questions and the students to answer the questions using their mobile devices, such as a cell phone, tablet, or laptop with an Internet connection.  It is so awesome and easy to use.

The nurse educator students are teaching College of Health Sciences faculty how to use the SMART audience response system.  The nurse educator students are integrating interactive learning into the classroom instruction with fantastic results.

The audience response system is useful for the face-to-face class, but it could also be used with webinar software, such as WebEx.  WebEx DOES have a polling feature, but it does not allow a response with a mobile device.

Two free polling solutions include Poll Everywhere and Socrative.  I have used Poll Everywhere for many years in our learning management system class lessons.  I tried Secrative, but prefer Poll Everywhere - maybe because I am more familiar with it.  There are limitations to the free solutions, such as the number of participants.

While free polling solutions are great, the SMART Notebook polling is better.  You can download a 90-day trial (what the nurse educator students are using) to learn more.  

Apple Watch Update - Works best With a Paired iPhone But Retains Some Features Without One

A few more days learning the Apple Watch and the update.  Apple Watch is designed to be paired with the iPhone.  It works best using Bluetooth, however, it can pair using Wi-Fi.  From what I have read, Wi-Fi uses a little more power from the watch than Bluetooth.  What is interesting is that the watch does have some features when using only Wi-Fi without the paired iPhone.

Two websites explain the relationship:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204562  and https://support.apple.com/kb/PH20767?locale=en_US 

The experience of a new device is interesting.  I am amazed of the incredible capabilities that the watch provides with such a small "footprint."  I am learning a little more every day.  

Khan Academy Nursing Videos - OUTSTANDING Learning Resources

I viewed an excellent AACN webinar on Khan Academy a few weeks ago.  Since I work with students to assure their success on passing the NCLEX-RN, the Khan Academy learning resources peaked my interest.

There are a number of videos that nursing students can view to prepare for the NCLEX-RN.  Go to https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/nclex-rn

To quickly find a category, just enter a term into the search window.

The Khan Academy has videos that are pertinent to the nurse practitioner role, too.  Nurse practitioner students should use the ones identified for medical students. As an example, Stanford School of Medicine provides videos for health and medicine at https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/stanford-medicine

The Khan Academy videos demonstrate best-practice in pedagogy!  Impressive.  The videos are short and go from simple to complex.  The video displayed below explains normal sinus rhythm on an EKG.


The Khan Academy also has NCLEX-RN practice questions online at https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/nclex-rn/nclex-practice-questions 

Apple Watch

With a couple of upcoming holidays in the next few weeks, I received an Apple watch as a gift.  Not that I needed a watch, because I never wear one.  After I figure it out a bit more, I will wrap it up so that I have a gift to open.  The watch uses a "haptic" as an alert, which is a buzz feeling when emails and messages arrive.  The watch is tethered to the iPhone and that may be the downside.  The phone should be within 30 feet but it seems that my watch wants the phone closer than that.

I did answer a couple of phone calls with the watch this morning and the quality of the audio was excellent.  I really like the emoticons that you can send with messages.  Fun!

As I read, developers are still creating apps for the iWatch.  The two I added are Google Maps and App in the Air.  You can read about other Apple watch apps at http://www.wareable.com/apple-watch/best-apple-watch-apps-832 

Even more features are noted on the YouTube video below.  Enjoy!

New Poll Everywhere Feature - Google Slides and Chrome Web Browser

Poll Everywhere is now available to use with the Chrome web browser and Google Drive slides.  It works on Mac and Windows computers.  To learn more, go to https://www.polleverywhere.com/app/google-slides

The Poll Everywhere extension is available for Google Chrome.  When you open Google Drive slides, you will see Poll Everywhere in the menu.

When you click to insert a poll, you have several choices for types of polls.  After you are done, click on the Present button.  If the poll is locked, mouse over to the right side of the web browser and click the lock icon to unlock the poll.

When the poll participants see the poll, they go to their mobile phone messages app and enter the number 22333 in the "send to" window.  Next the participants enter the name of the poll.  In my example, they enter JEANNESEWELL.  Finally, the participant answers the poll, entering A, B, or other choices provided.

The poll results display on the presenters slide.

The Georgia College nurse educator students have been working with the College of Health Sciences faculty teaching SMART Notebook software.  The 15th edition of the software has a great built-in polling feature for mobile devices.  The downside of the software is that it is a subscription.  It must be installed on the presenter's computer (for the design) and on the classroom podium computer for the presentation (unless the presenter was using a laptop with the software to present).

SMART Notebook allows participants to use any type of computer with a web browser to answer a poll.  However, Google Slides and Poll Everywhere limit the response to polls using the messaging app. 

5th Edition of Informatics and Nursing Available Now

Received an email that the information on the 5th Edition of the Informatics and Nursing textbook is being distributed via email.  You can preview the book - a new feature.  If you are interested, click here to view.  Enjoy!