Blackboard is changing! Learn what’s new and how it might impact you! Blackboard is being upgraded from version 6.3 to version 8 during May 7 - May 10. On May 11 we will have an upgraded version of Blackboard. Learn about the most important changes and what you need to know to be prepared.
Linda Goodwin, School of Nursing
With federal initiatives pushing health information technologies (HIT) into a reluctant health care system, decision-makers in health care find themselves without research and evidence that defines best practices. A March 2008 PubMed search yielded approximately 150,000 hits; this illustrates a problem for decision makers trying to sift through evidence for HIT results. A problem exists in that it has historically taken about seventeen years for health care to implement research findings into practice. It is imperative that we find more rapid methods of evidence/knowledge development, dissemination, and adoption if we are to leverage HIT to accomplish needed improvements for safety, cost, and quality in patient care. This project involved students in evaluation of four “netbook” products and then provided online nursing informatics graduate students (n=11) with an Asus ee. The devices were supposed to help them critique, summarize, and disseminate available HIT studies and evidence reports. We utilized mobile technologies and remote (virtual) teamwork that enabled both synchronous (Skype.com) and asynchronous (Blackboard) collaboration. Some students are using their netbook, but for mobile productivity purposes rather than the project goals and most students found the device too slow for efficient web access. There are newer Asus netbooks that may be faster.
Constance Johnson, School of Nursing
We have built a Second Life® infrastructure that allows faculty and students experiential learning and promotes social interaction, in a collaborative environment in our distance education program. It furthermore supports immersion and presence, allowing real-time teaching and discussion. In the School of Nursing, the use of virtual environments for distance education has been piloted for one year. We built a virtual School of Nursing using Second Life as the infrastructure. A Summer theory course was taught using this medium as well as Blackboard and Elluminate (a webinar). A self-administered survey instrument was completed by students following each of the three instructional modalities (Blackboard, Elluminate, and Second Life). The survey instrument included perceptions of learning from a variety of components of the instructional technology, such as pace of class, quality of discussions, integration of technology, and fit between assignments and classroom environment. Significant differences occurred in both overall perceptions of the effect of the instructional modality on individual learning, as well as of the quality of instruction provided to understand the fit between instructional modality and coursework. Student rated experience of Second Life was significantly higher than that of Blackboard for both overall perceptions and quality of instruction (post-hoc Tukey; p<.10). Evaluative feedback from the students suggests that 3D learning environments have the potential to bridge barriers such as isolation, foster interactivity, clarify information, support spontaneous discussions, and facilitate learning experiences.
Cary Moskovitz, Thompson Writing Program
The Duke Writing in the Disciplines program and Office of Alumni Affairs are collaborating in this unique educational initiative. Students in participating classes get feedback on drafts of a class writing assignment from a Duke alum or employee who has professional experience relevant to their assignment. Through this project, members of the broader Duke community help our students learn to anticipate the needs and expectations of readers and to revise their writing to make it more effective for the intended audience - key communication skills for both professional and civic life. Participants have three main interactions: First, student and reader get together - in person or by web conference - to meet and to discuss the aim and scope of the student project. Second, the student e-mails a draft to the reader, who uses a Wimba voice tool to record a “think-aloud response”, reading the student paper (or parts of the paper) aloud, pausing frequently to describe their reaction to what they are reading. Third, the student revises the paper with the reader’s comments in mind, followed by a second meeting to discuss the revised draft.
