Rob Blackston: EDTECH Learning Log

Course Reflection In terms of integrating social media in the classroom, I have always been resistant to making the change. There is stigma sometimes associated with the use of any social media, especially in the classroom. I have been in many conversations with colleagues, about how “millennials are on that damn Twitter too much!” I suppose, as a newer educator, I was conforming to the same idea as my colleagues. Perhaps they felt threatened by having the attention taken off of them, or maybe they just don’t understand it. For me personally, I was afraid that I would lose the personal connection to my students. The EDTECH program has helped me embrace technology integration in my classes. It has also helped me understand that I don’t have to, or even shouldn’t, integrate a piece of technology for the sake of just doing it. There must be specific purpose for introducing it and it should be for a meaningful purpose. I feel that social media is another tool that can be use

In an allied health program, managing the use of social media and students can be a bit of a chore. There are many things to consider when providing an environment of teamwork and collaboration but also professionalism. Students in my program get very excited about their education and feel empowered by the role they play. This excitement is hard to keep in and not share. In todays society, sharing on social media is the norm, however, with patient privacy this has to be closely monitored. A social media policy can help guide students in the right direction.  The following is my example of a social media policy for my surgical technology program. The college has its own social media policy and my policy will support it but adds a more specific take for my program. This policy will be included in my program handbook. Social Media Policy Purpose To communicate potential problems and liabilities associated with the use of social media while attending the NIC Surgical Technolo

I focused my research on the utilization of social media for healthcare and healthcare education. Throughout my research I have learned that the use of social media in healthcare and healthcare education provided some very noticeable similarities, both good and potentially problematic. Most of the videos, articles and studies that I read or watched, outlined similar advantages to utilizing social media platforms. Some of the advantages are that they provide an opportunity for patients and students to gain access to medical professionals. This is important to providing a service to the community but also a chance for physicians to “get the word out” about new technologies, treatments and preventative education. Sharing information was also a very big theme for using social media. The negatives really boiled down to potential privacy issues. Because social media is there for everyone and may not have the security measures in place to protect patient’s privacy, could be a problem.

A PLE or Personal Learning Environment is an evolving environment of tools and resources organized by a person in order to continue lifelong learning, to create, and to connect with others of similar interests. My PLE has the very specific emphasis of surgery, more specifically, surgical technology. I long to improve how education of the profession of surgical technology is delivered, how resources are shared and practice improvements are publicized to the entire profession. My graphic is a basic depiction of the operating room team. The patient represents the PLE as a whole, since that is the focus. The surgeon represents the profession as a whole and provides the base knowledge. The Surgical Tech represents Surgical Technology Education, which filters, sorts and and guides the profession and helps maintain order, just like a surgical tech in the operating room. The assistant represents the Resources used to support the education of CST's. Finally, the circulating nurse repres