REFLECTION 4: FORMATIVE EVALUATION

Exploration

The first task of this course was to improve one of the 2011 Emerging Technology Wikis. It was challenging to work with existing information on the wiki and I was not sure what amount of information to add and what to remove. I thought I did okay until the creator of the 2011 RSS wiki that I edited came to do such a brilliant presentation in session 3 on 16 May 2012. This exercise however enticed and “absorbed” me to see what else I can “play” with to try and broaden my knowledge of the various prototypes available. However, today while listening to a presentation by Michael Rowe (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Colloquium, 04 June 2012) I realised that my focus should not be completely centred around the technology, but on ensuring meaningful learning and reflection that is important to develop the critical thinking skills of my students.

Design and Development

The next task on this journey was to determine the needs and competencies of our students. I responded to this task by creating an online survey to determine if and which social media networks my students are using. This was the first time I created an online survey and although I identified many “gaps” in my line of questioning and experienced the accidental closing of the survey that compromised the responses received. At this point I had to start reviewing the affordances of using mobile technology for my proposed study. Students indicated that they mostly use Facebook and What’s App and thus the flexibility to support the learning and connective needs of my students.

From their responses I created “The Health Assessment” blog and imbedded the links to the blog on the Facebook group I created. This means that they can go onto Facebook, click on the link that will take them directly to the task or information on the Blog.

Formative Evaluation

My perception is that it is an on-going process with the blogging and online feedback sessions. Another evaluation was the presentation of the blog to my colleagues on Friday, 25 May 2012 and it was suggested that:

·         We do a pre and a post-test to review of anatomy and physiology of a system that was discussed in the first and second year before a session on that specific system. After the pre-test they are referred to resources to review and complete the post test before the class session.

·         Availability on What’s App to answer queries from 08H30 to 16H00. It was suggested that every lecturer and clinical facilitator are assigned a group to manage during this session.

This phase is still in process.

In Conclusion

There is the need for an appropriate theoretical framework to guide this project and the Integrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF) of Dabbagh & Bannan Ritland (2005: 113) as adapted (NRF Group Reference) has the potential to guide the systematic development of an online learning support for students while doing the Health assessment of the ear in the Primary Health Care Module within the third year of the undergraduate nursing program.