E.+Comments+and+Annotations+(+journals,+readings,+books)

Comments and Annotations:

Topic domain: The focus of this section is in the conversion of traditional face to face teaching to on line modalities with an accompanying inclusion of teaching and assessment modalities.

Educating student nurses has historically fallen in the domain of teacher centred face to face instruction. Transference from this method of instructional delivery to more contemporary methodologies has increased in momentum. This acceleration towards online learning has been prompted in response to growing student numbers from diverse locations, the premium of resources and specialised instructors as well as the economic climate, necessitating accelerated learning to produce graduates to fill the void within the nursing workforce. Technology is identified as a methodology to facilitate these goals. Three prominent areas of inquiry arise concerning the optimum mode of learning, the quality of learning and experience of the learning process of the student and staff. Topical debate focuses on the increasing numbers of mature age students and the perceived difficulties this cohort and lecturers experience in tackling technology relating to online learning. This annotated bibliography seeks to provide foundation information on these three areas of interest. The methodology employed in obtaining the literature was to conduct a general search through the //EBSCOhost platform// using multiple databases. The term parameters used were: nursing, technology, on-line learning, outcomes, students and preferences. Literature searches were confined to 2003 to 2011 with most resources selected falling within the last three years in order to maintain a contemporary focus. The researchers composed a literature review to develop best practice. Best practice derived from the literature was then correlated with the action undertaken by practitioners (though not necessarily medical professionals) considered, by peers, to have expertise in clinical observation. The study focused on developing four guiding principles for teaching the observation skills by instructors and eight guiding principles to acquiring the skill by the student. The article is useful as it highlights methodologies which applied to a wide range of cohort backgrounds. The limitation of the article was that the subjects were experts with refined observational skills rather than novice observers yet to hone these skills. The authors concluded that the application of the guiding principles in both domains were in fact essential skills for teaching medical students. This information is applicable to my research in that it supports the concept that observational skills obtained from a variety of disciplines are applicable to a medical environment. This is helpful in understanding the value of pre-existing skills of students.
 * Introduction:**

Ainsley, B & Brown, A 2009, ‘The impact of informatics on nursing education: a review of the literature’, //Journal of Continuing Education//, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 228-232, (online EBSCOhost). The researchers analysed the benefits and disadvantages associated with online learning of clinical nursing subjects. The authors conducted a literature review. The research focuses on the concepts of life long learning, technology literacy, clinical nursing skills and how these are developed through online learning. The article is useful to my research as it shows a developmental aspect of students’ familiarity with the delivery tools and acquisition of knowledge through exposure to online learning. The main limitation of the article is that it highlights a virtual community (//MERLOT//) which is unfamiliar to the writer. The authors concluded two main concepts. Firstly, that there is a strong link between teaching students the technology and having students use the technology to enhance their education. Secondly, environments that foster collaboration enhance the learning journey. This article is useful as it speaks to my vision that students must have technology literacy of a sound level in order to readily acquire knowledge from online learning modes of instruction.

Heejung, C 2003, ‘A problem-based learning trial on the internet involving undergraduate nursing students’, //Journal of Nursing Education//, vol. 42, no. 8, pp. 359-363, (online EBSCOhost). The journal article seeks to investigate how problem based learning (PBL) can be developed for internet based course delivery. The researchers collected qualitative data through surveying participants who completed an online scenario investigating and developing solutions for a clinical case. The environment was collaborative and facilitated by a lecturer via the internet. The researchers were interested in the students’ perception of their learning experience and the degree of knowledge content that had resulted. The article is useful to my research as it provides support for PBL within online courses and also emphasises the importance of student satisfaction with the learning experience. The main limitation of the research is that considered a short duration project of four weeks involving novice learners. The authors highlight that the role of the facilitator is critical to engaging the learner and producing quality learning outcomes. This article is useful as it emphasises the benefits of PBL and collaborative environments via online learning to achieve desirable outcomes from both student and lecturer perspectives.


 * __ The use of CV or an E Portfolio __**

Trevitt et al., (2011) identify the following five elements for using portfolios around learning, teaching and assessment as a professional learning tool:
 * representations of practice;
 * engagement with key ideas in education, and/or the educational literature;
 * reflective commentary – an autobiographical/autoethnographic aspect that takes an inquiring and critical stance;
 * integration or linkage between the first three elements; and
 * sufficient breadth to include multiple aspects of teaching practice, e.g. course design, teaching, assessment

Representations of practice: The traditional C V does not have the scope to demonstrate detailed insight into the professional’s scope of practice. Where the CV is effective in offering a snapshot and concise overview further exploration of a candidates capacity to embrace an institutions teaching needs can be demonstrated in an e-portfolio. The inclusion of a teaching philosophy is one such area. Example of my teaching philosophy: INSERT


 * __ Self assessment: __** My experience in working on a self assessment item occurred during my undertaking of GCTE. I completed my assignment and then had to use the self assessment rubric to evaluate my completed project. Naturally, I sought to maximize my marks and had strived to achieve all the requirements of the HD columns (despite the course being a non graded one). Obviously my interpretation was different to the co-ordinator. My interpretation was different to the coordinator. This imparted to me how difficult is must be for student to correctly interpret exactly what a lecturer is seeking despite a fairly specific marking rubric.

Harrell, M 2005, 'Grading According to a Rubric', //Teaching Philosophy//, 28, 1, pp. 3-15, Academic Search Complete, EBSCO//host//, viewed 8 September 2011.

__**Group work**__ Boud, Cohen and Sampson (2001) indicate that assessment can be the most important and powerful influence on the learning process in a formal course. It stands to reason, that the design of the assessment was closely correlates with the learning objectives. Without clearly defined learning objectives this cannot occur. So exactly what do I want my students to learn? Obviously I want them to learn content however, I also want to expose them to learn to work with in group environments.

Given that my students are located over an extended geographical area, group work can be somewhat problematic. A further obstacle is in maintaining the student satisfaction of the learning journey. Frequently, students articulate after the assessments have been completed that members of the group did not contribute, the workload was unfair, some members of the group held strong opinions and would not altered its opinions….. and a myriad of other issues….. All of which indicate that the assessment was ultimately unfair. A similar situation of unfair assessment was also identify and by Boud, Cohen and Sampson (2001) and Wilson (2001). It would seem that there is a common practice steering away from the group work and group submission process in favour of group work followed by an individual submission of assignment. Does this not then devalue the importance of group work? Boud D, Cohen, R and Sampson, J 2001, “Peer learning in higher education,” Making a difference 2005 Evaluations and Assessment Conference, Sydney. Wilson J, Teaching and learning discussion paper, unpublished manuscript, university of technology, Sydney.