Sunday, August 24, 2014

Blogging and Academic Identity

This article is very interesting as the writer Heide Estes speaks about how she transitions between writing with her scholarly voice compared to her voice of disability.  This article is a good example of how a blog can be written in different ways.  Heide demonstrates that the personal side of a blogger can come out in opinions and personal feelings, as she writes about things that affect her disability.

Estes writes about how most bloggers write narratively, like storytelling, to form an identify in their blog. Bloggers need a way to engage their followers and by adding personal touches to their blogs to help other identify with them.  Many times the things we blog about can intersect between personal and academia.  Estes sees nothing wrong with this.  Can you put too much personal stuff into your blog?  Is it like a diary for others to see and when is it too much? I like the idea of blogging to offer my voice to articles, and how my studies are going but I am not sure I would go the next step to write about my disability.  Of course I am so new to blogging, I have a very narrow opinion on this right now.

I understand the comments made by Estes in her conclusion regarding the feeling of writing into a vacuum.  I am always surprised to see that someone has commented on my blog and I am always eager to respond. Estes offers some advice for beginner bloggers to focus on writing in the beginning for non-academia, she suggest no use course shorthand and give full information to what your subject is.

Many more questions arise about blogging and how to use my voice after reading this article.  I am sure as I progress with this, I will find the right voice to get my message across.










Sunday, August 17, 2014

Research study on mobile technology and Nursing

Mobile learning in nursing practice education: Applying Koole’s FRAME model.  Kenny, R., Van Neste-Kenny, J., Park, C., Burton, P., & Meiers, J. (2009).  Journal of Distance Education/Revenue de l’Education A Distance, 23(3), 75-96.  Retrieved from http://www.jofde.ca/index.php/jde/article/view/599/990


I enjoyed reading this article, as anything that helps nurses, is of interest to me.  I also know one of the authors, so this made it even more interesting to see this article used.  
This article is about an exploratory formative evaluation on 3rd year nursing students who were provided with mobile devices.  The mobile devices were supplied to the participants to see if they would work to decrease the isolation of students in non-traditional practice experiences.  This study was done over a five week period, with the participants receiving two hours of training on how to use the mobile device and the programs. The authors were surprised by their results and did offer advice for the next researchers that may want to do a similar study. 
It would be interesting to see how the authors would do this study today.  Mobile technology has grown exponentially since 2009,  I think that most nurses now would and do use their own mobile devices in their nursing programs and when working on the floors.  I know many of the Practical Nursing students I speak to have downloaded the Davis's Drug Guide and anything else that helps them in their practice experience, onto their own phones.  Even now in hospital they have proven that cell signals do not interfere with medical devices and do allow nurses to carry their phones with them.
Having spent 5 years in home care, having a cell phone to keep in touch is a necessity.  Safety was a high priority, so being able to reach staff was very important.  Also in home care there is a lot of travel between clients, so knowing people are safe is a must.  I really thank Kenny et al. for writing this paper and opening the door for discussion.  

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome, a term I have heard a number of times now and actually had someone tell me I was suffering this.  After I heard this, I wanted to know what it was that I had.  So off to the internet to find a definition.

Caltech Counselling Centre defines Imposter Syndrome as feelings of inadequacy that persist even in face of information that indicates that the opposite is true.  I know this feeling, when I cannot remember what I read to be able to make a discussion post that sounds intelligent.  I read everyone else's posts and think to myself how smart they sounds, why can't I sound that smart.  Some times it can be a very defeating feeling but I know I have to over come it. I know that whatever I decide to do, research paper or thesis, my situation is different than everyone else.  I will focus on something that deals with regulation and the processes that pertain to this role. I know when it comes to speaking regulation, I can do it and have to stop feeling like I am less smart than everyone else.