Free Microsoft Online Office Word App and APA

I worked with the free Online Office Word app this weekend to see how it works with APA citation formatting.  What sets the free Word app apart from Google Docs is that you can create a different first page.  That is an important APA formatting feature because the first page of paper written with APA formatting has the words "Running head:" and the abbreviated title, but the other pages have only the abbreviated title.

I will post the process for formatting a paper with APA formatting later.  

Social Media - Engaging Learners in Nursing

In my quest to update the 6th edition of Informatics and Nursing, I discovered a plethora of articles and research on social media.  Pilcher & Harper wrote an excellent article entitled "Engaging Learners with Social Media."  The article discusses four popular social networking sites - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.  They included statistics, the different features that the sites offer,  and web links to pertinent information.    More importantly, they offered suggestions about how to use the sites for educational purposes.  Citation for the article is below.

Pilcher, J., & Harper, M. (2016). Engaging learners with social media. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 32(3), 137-143. doi:10.1097/NND.0000000000000256

Free Office Apps

It has been over a year since I actively blogged.  I have begun writing the 6th edition of the Informatics and Nursing textbook, so will blog news as I learn.  The most amazing change in the horizon is the advent of free office apps other than Google Drive.

Microsoft now provides access to free versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote with Office.com.  Microsoft also has a free version of Outlook and provides email, calendar, and people (contacts).  Create a user name and password to access the resources.

The free Microsoft apps allow you to download the files you create or save them to your Dropbox account.

Apple also provides free apps for users and 1 GB of file.  You create a free login to iCloud first at http://www.icloud.com.  When you open you iCloud site, you will see Contacts, Notes, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Settings.

Enjoy exploring these new features! 

Animated Emoticons on the Apple Watch

I am still learning new features on the Apple Watch.  The one I learned about today was that you can change the appearance of the Messenger Emoticons with force touch.  I use emoticons all of the time when sending messages to my husband and good friends.  What is unique about the Apple Watch emoticons is that they are animated.  You can read more at http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/05/16/153-animated-emoji-apple-watch/ 

If you have an Apple Watch, experiment with the animated emoticons on your own.  Enjoy! 

Apple Watch - Other Features Including Music

I am still enjoying my experience with the Apple Watch.  It is fascinating to be working on school work when a student phones me on the iPhone.  The iPhone happened to be in another room, but the phone rang on my Watch and the MacBook.  I answered on the MacBook, but could have just as easily used the Watch.

I noticed that when I selected music, that the music played from the iPhone.  With a little more investigation, I realized that I could load music on the Watch and play it from the Watch.  Will explore that more after I get final course grades submitted for this semester.

I noticed Air Play icon but it is grayed out. The  information in the 9-5 column below provides a very good review of the Watch features.  I suspect new OS features might make it have more meaning.  

http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/21/watchos-2-apple-watch-feature-walkthrough/ 

Paying with Apple Watch

I live in a small town, however, Apple Pay is beginning to emerge finally!  What that means is that I had to learn how to pay with my Apple watch.  I thought that since my watch mirrors my iPhone - that the credit cards would appear, but that was not so.  I had to select Apple Watch Wallet & Apple Pay on my iPhone and add each credit card.  I also had to enter the security code for each card when adding it.  To use the watch to pay, all you have to do is double-click the side button of the watch and then select the card you want to use.  Just like Wallet on the phone, you tap or swipe the card.  At any rate, I am ready to use the Apple Watch to pay the next time there is an opportunity.  

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!

Flash Card Creator - Flippity

I found a easy to use flashcard creator that uses a Google spreadsheet.  All you have to do is to have a Google Drive account and download the template.  The website is http://flippity.net/

You can view a demo by clicking on the URL below. A screenshot shows the appearance.  You have a choice of colors for the flashcard and can even include videos. 

http://www.flippity.net/fc.asp?k=18coyHBMERpWz-hz_mUTZc-qPxHRlsRh0wyloYN0JSVg

EZvid Update - Trial Run a Success

I created my first video using EZvid program that allowed my to screen-cast my computer today.   I did a storyboard and practiced a few times first.  The program is very impressive! 

I realized that initially, only the video recorded - and that is a good thing as it simplifies the process.  After the video was created in the program, I was able to narrate it while watching it.  I noticed that I should have also been able to add text, too.  

After finishing and previewing the video, I uploaded it to my YouTube channel.  The video begins with a display of the program - but that is fine with me!  The video is shown below.

Free Recorder for Windows Computers - EZvid

I watched a webinar on creating online courses today.  One of the tools used for the online course was EZvid, a free recorder for Windows computers.  I downloaded the app and it appears very easy to use.  EZvid is supposed to optimize the video for YouTube.  The button to upload into YouTube is on the main window.  To learn more, watch the video below.

MindMeister in Google Docs - Concept Mapping App

MindMeister is a concept mapping app add-on for Google Docs.  It works when you have bulleted lists.  I can see it useful for nursing students who are learning to see relationships of diseases to pathophysiology, medications, assessments, and diagnostic testing.  It is really easy to use.  First, download it from the Add-ons menu.  Activate it.  Afterwards create a bulleted list.  Highlight the list and click Insert as Mind Mapp from the Add-ons menu.  A YouTube video displaying how the Add-one works is below.

UberConference for Google Docs

I discovered a very interesting app, UberConference, this afternoon.  The only problem is that it is not working right now.  I will have to try it later.  It has lots of potential for group work.  Essentially, the user can establish a webinar connection to collaborative work.  The app is free.  If you have Google Docs open, click Add-ons > Search for UberConference.  Once it is downloaded, click it to activate the app.  When the app works correctly, it should display a phone number for collaborators to use.  You can add the email addresses for others and the app will send an email to the users with the phone number.
After I activated the app, I received an error message stating that the app could not connect with the server.  I tried it again and UberConference appeared on the right side of the window, but it was blank (indicating it did not connect with the server).
A YouTube video displaying how the app "should" work is below.

Google Sheets -- Mapping Sheets App

I read a very interesting article about the Mapping Sheets App for Google Drive Sheets.  Essentially, you can input a list of addresses into worksheet cells and then the Mapping App will display the addresses on a map.  I can see the app very useful in a variety of education settings.  For example, in nursing, you could input the addresses of hospitals, healthcare providers, diagnostic testing centers and pharmacies to display for a community assessment.  The app is very easy to use.  The first thing you want to do is to open a Google Sheets worksheet.  Then select Add-ons > Get Add-ons from the menu.  Search for Mapping Sheets.  Afterwards, activate the Mapping Sheets Add-on.  Afterwards, the Mapping Sheets menu will display on the right side of the window.  You can click a demo video and/or download sample data. 
A YouTube video displaying how the app works is online and displayed below.  

Case Studies for Teaching in the Sciences

I attended the Teaching and Learning Conference in Athens, Georgia last week.  One of the handouts had a link for the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science at http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/

The resource is excellent.  The site has case studies for all science disciplines, including nursing.  There are case studies for all levels of education.  If you are an educator, the site is worth exploring.