Stephanie Wells
"An investment in knowledge, pays the best interest"
-Benjamin Franklin
Media Project
Media can be an excellent tool to influence others to your way of thinking. The task in Resources in the Digital Environment was to construct a podcast or long-form discussion to spark interest in our innovation topic. My original innovation proposal was to combine online elements into the procedures courses so that students could have ongoing access for mastery. As expected, my original innovation plan was very narrow due to just not truly understanding what could be done across the curriculum. I also realize that I have not been appropriately utilizing the technology available to both myself and my students. Almost everything I need to engage my students within the courses, they have access to already through their LMS at Dallas College. They have a Microsoft Virtual Desktop that offers a variety of tools. There are also an unlimited amount of free educational resources available like YouTube, Ted Talks and others that they can utilize as powerful technology resources. "How-to" videos, podcasts on concepts, upcoming and well documented practices are simply at the fingertips of every student. After uncovering what is available for students, I have expanded my original proposal that only included the procedures courses to also include imaging principles, image analysis, and also an opportunity when the students are in their clinical semesters to continue to collaborate with the students that are coming up behind them. I have begun to add some of those elements and have seen excellent results so far. I have also been working to create a publication that inspires other educators in radiologic technology to add blended learning elements to their curriculum based on my new findings but also on the next several steps that I think are necessary to make this project reach its full potential.
Engaging your audience best works by first getting them to understand either a personal situation or an interesting situation that they can either empathize with or relate to enough to spark an interest in understanding. This should encourage them to want to look further into the topic you are trying to present. As a student, if you have been given tools to become a self-directed learner, then the possibilities can be endless. My goal in this project is to appeal to fellow radiography educators that there is a better way to do things to give students more tools for understanding. Even if their outcomes are still respectable, we can influence the learner to be more engaged and overall happier in the way the information is presented.
Media References-
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Garrison, R., & Vaughan, N. D. (2008). Blended learning in higher education: Framework, principles and guidelines. Wiley.
Mercer C. (2019). How work hours affect medical resident performance and wellness. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 191(39), E1086–E1087. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1095798
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