DFLP Wk 8 Issues with flexible learning

I'm back again on this course after having spent quite a bit ot time working on the "creating learning centred environments" course. I have also been busy trying to increase my digital literacy skills which is why videos are now on my blog.

Interesting question posted this week "What are some of the issues that you think are significant in terms of what the modern internet has to offer to flexible learning?"

I have been already considering this question because I've been trying to develop my flexible learning plan and this started some debate as to why I would put it on blackboard and why not on something like Wiki Edcactor which is more open. I responded see my post titled "Digital information learning project" posted about 2 weeks ago. My biggest concern was about cofidentiality and accessing resources such as our course text book and data bases such as Cinahl etc which contains peer reviewed articles which the students need to be able to access.

I am quite interested in this debate. One of the issues health professionals have is that because of the web, patients seeking medical help sometimes arrive after they have practically diagnosed themselves and decided what treatment they need, because of the information they have found on the web. We know that not all information is accurate and this can be a concern. This concern also applies when we ask our students to access information related to patients they have been caring for. This is why we encourage the use of peer reviewed data bases for their searching.



Downes on his video talked a lot aobut the good things web 2 offers. He talked about three principles f online learning...Interaction, Usabilty and relevance. I have just finished reading Alisons blog to do this with week and found it quite interesting as she also talked about these 3 principles.

1)Interaction....yes this is possible on line but face to face still has a lot of advantages...It can be quite lonely at home when you have little kids...the chance to get out of the door for a break is often really needed. however when you don't have a babysitter organised to be able to interact on line is a Godsend. Downes also talked about the advantage is that you can pull out the information you need rather than having all this stuff pushed at you that you may not want as it won't fit your learning need or possibly your learning style. This definitely has to be an advantage of online learning...Just access what you need for your learning..Yeah! There is that challenge of time though. If you go to a class you get it done...With online you need to be self directed and self managed (Downes). However he suggest you just prioritise the time..(This is why I'm spending my Ssaturday of Queens Birthday in the office doing this course)...

2) Usability...2nd point Downes talked about. He talked about creating your own distribution knowledge learning system to simplify the message...The leaner can approach and organise the web to meet there needs...simplistic

3) The third point was about relevence. I found this interesting because I do see the advantages here. Our students often want the knowledge when they are in the clinical setting not weeks before in a classroom. This is the distinct advantage of e learning, they can access the knowledge when and where they want. This has to be better to help them link theory and practical. This is my rationale for developing resources online for my students to access...

But then again the debate Keen vs. Weinberger highlited to me the concerns I already wander about...'the big brother syndrome' Anything you put out there has the potential to create a database about you. Is this always beneficial...How much information about people is good...What about confidentiality? What about information that is not helpful or causing ethical delemnas for our health professionals...For me the debate is not yet settled in my own mind and I am still debating whether to put my resources on blackboard or Wiki Edcuator.

However networking is always good and can be very helpful. This can also help you check out if the stuff you have found on the internet is actually credible...

I found an excellent open website today that would be great for my course. Licensed also under creative commons..Clincal Skills online and also another site
Both of these two sites have excellent resources and videos on you tube showing particular skills...Great...Might use them in my plan