Collaboration

It has been awhile since I have written! It is not because there has been nothing happening.......but instead because there has been so much happening. Since last I wrote I spent a week out at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore working with colleagues who are all  National League for Nursing Health Information Technology Scholars. It was a great week learning about what is new in nursing informatics and education. Then in June I headed out to Orlando for the INACSL conference to present about my DNP project. Once again I spent the week collaborating with many nursing scholars. In other exciting news, a group of colleagues who use Second Life for educational purposes began a group called International Cooperative of Practice (ICop). Through this group I have met a group of colleagues who encompass both nurse educators and technology specialists. There has been rich discussion and interesting information shared.  We are working on adding a senior apt and assisted living to the island, and rezzing up the home birthing center. More details and pictures to come. Exciting things are happening. Stay tuned!

New colleagues: one from across the ocean, and one from over the river right next door

 

Zelda has been a very busy girl. Working on a teleporter/sign for Nightingale Isle so people can move about the island with ease; attending several virtual world educational meetings (VWER roundtable discussions); and best of all - meeting new nursing colleagues who are passionate about using virtual worlds for educational purposes.



Kali Pizzaro (AKA Evelyn McElhinney from Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland)  http://caledonianblogs.net/soh-secondlife/



Zelda and Kali:  We discovered yesterday that we will be presenting back to back at the INACSL 10th Annual International Nursing Simulation Learning Resource Centers Conference in June.  We took a picture that we can place in our presentations. :)



Hattie Haystack (in the red jacket: AKA Gail Hanson Brenner) from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire



Evelyn and Jone at the VWER Roundtable discussion on VWERGrid (Guest speaker:Justin Clark-Casey).

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Exciting Adventures

This has been a week of new beginnings and exciting adventures! I have begun to work with Wade Schuette, an educator/scholarly person from Michigan. (AKA Starlight Harbour inworld). He has much knowledge of and expertise in building and scripting in virtual worlds! As you all know Zelda can hardly fly so she needs much help (And so does Jone in real life :) Here are a few pictures from some work done on the Reticula sim in Jokaydia. More to come on the projects. Much of the work will be tied to my Health Information Technology Scholar (HITS) project. I am awaiting word on some rental property in Jokaydia Grid. Nightingale Isle will soon be in several places. YEAH!!! Hang On!!!!  

Zelda has a new friend

Zelda has a new friend out in Second Life and Jokaydia Grid. His name is Starlight Harbour and he is going to be working with her to set up experiences for the nursing students. YEAH for new friends!!!! He is the one on the left dressed in his finest vest and tie. More to come on the projects!

Virtual World Education Round table Discussion

On February 24th I attended the Virtual World Education Round table discussion: Which Grid for Me? Pros and Cons of VW Grids for Teaching.  It was really interesting to hear other educators discuss the pros and cons of open and closed grids for teaching. Many of the educators felt educators should have a presence both in the open (Jokaydia Grid, OS Grids etc....) and closed sims such as Second Life. I am contemplating renting space over in Jokaydia Grid as well as out in Second life.  Here are some pictures from the round table discussion.

Zelda forgot to change out of her scrubs for the event. :)  She even brought her stethoscope.

National League for Nurses Health Information Technology Scholar Program (HITS)

For the year 2011, I have been accepted to the National League for Nurses (NLN) Health Information Technology Scholar Program. (HITS).  This is a year-long immersive program with the following goals:
     1.  Transform teaching and learning in the 21st century – Merge informatics, telehealth, simulation and e-  learning to create powerful learning environments.

     2.  Improve Nursing Education and Practice – develop faculty to integrate IT in curricula to educate future practitioners.
     3.  Expand Infrastructure for clinical Learning Processes – Educate a cadre of well-informed faculty who focus on real-world applications of technologies in their education practices.
     4.  Optimize Patient Safety and Drive Improvements in Healthcare Quality – Better educate future workforce with competencies to provide safe, quality and efficient healthcare through use of technologies. 

There were: 253 faculty applicants (113 Schools; 36 States) , with 52 faculty accepted from 29 diverse schools in 20 states.   (NLN HITS PPT presentation January 28, 2011).  Here are the esteemed Executive Leadership Team:

                                                    Helen Connors, PhD, RN, FAAN

                                                    Diane Billings, EdD, RN, FAAN
                                                    Pam Jeffries, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF
                                                    Diane Skiba, PhD, FAAN, FACMI
                                                    Mary Anne Rizzolo, EdD, RN, FAAN

My project will involve using Nightingale Isle for simulations and role plays for baccalaureate level students. More to come as I fine-tune the project goals.

Society for Simulation in Healthcare International Meeting (SSH IMSH)

It has been awhile since I have blogged. Since last time, I graduated with a Doctor in Nursing Practice from St. Catherine University, and have begun to write up a couple manuscripts for publication.

I spent the last week in New Orleans at the International Meeting for Simulation in healthcare. I presented the avatar project, and there was much participant interest about the project. I also joined the Special interest group (SIG) for serious games for learning. There were over 2400 people in attendance and there were offerings such as Sim Wars, Immersive Sessions, and Serious Games.  For the full story of the events go to http://clinicalplayground.com/ to read musings from Eric Bauman. We are beginning to gear up for next year's conference. For starters, Nightingale Isle will be part of the serious games arcade. It will be fun to share information with nurses and physicians who are interested in how to use virtual worlds for educational purposes.