Journal 7: Reflection

I find personal learning networks to be rather intuitive, it makes sense that you need a group to learn from and to expand on your educational techniques--often the things we learn and remember best are from group experiences or emotional experiences. 

I created an account with www.Edutopia.com however it only took me a few sessions of perusing it to realize that it was not going to be as beneficial to me as I had hoped it would.  It is geared more towards K-12.  Although not pertinent to my life, I can see how this would be an amazing source for other teachers.

I find I get most of my PLN information via my Old Reader (www.theoldreader.com) RSS feed.  I subscribe to many Medical Education, Free Open Access Medical-Education, or FOAMed, sites. These websites not only provide educational materials but also ideas on how to teach. 

I follow many Emergency Medicine Educational "Celebrities" on twitter--again this is mostly for my own education and not yet for teaching purposes. 

These resources have shown me how easy it can be to distribute education--although it is difficulty to constantly be coming up with new posts and it takes time to makes these posts. I will likely incorporate blogging and twitter into teaching EM Residents, I find these methods easy to learn from, quick and on the go, which is helpful in this field. 

Q1: How will you incorporate what you have learned into your teachings?

A1: I have so many ideas, we already have a twitter fact feed, I would love to make a website for teaching with an additional blog!

Q2:Do you believe it will be easy to incorporate this into your teachings?

A2:I think finding the tim will be the hardest part for me! I think EM residents will respond well to on the go teaching but finding time to put it all together will be the hard part for me!

...

This is a Pavlova. It is a delicious Meringue topped with fresh whipped cream and fresh berries. YUM!

Journal 6: Reflection

I was so excited to to take this class, I have a little experience in Photoshop and Illustrator but absolutely no experience in web design or html, and have been wanting to get my feet wet for years. This class has far exceeded my expectations, I thought html would be difficult and hard to learn, but I am finding that it is actually quite intuitive. 

I am surprised at how quickly I went from writing a simple page to adding fancy fonts, pictures, backgrounds.  

The Learning Web Design book

Has been an amazing adjunct to class. 

I like that html follows very specific rules, that you "open" and "close" and that there are defined way in which to do things--this applies to the part of me that loves math and calculus.  Further I love that you can keep the "meat" or content of your website the same but change up the style quickly with different style sheets. 

The hardest thing for me has been keeping the tags straight (thank goodness it's easy to google stuff!) and not getting frustrated when I can't find my mistakes!  (Missing one closing tag sure can mess a lot up!). I also find Style Sheets slightly confusing but they are getting easier with every sheet!

Here is what I've been working on:

My CPP Webpage

My Labs

My Book Exercises

...

Q1: What has been the hardest part of coding for you?

A1: I think the hardest part thus far has been keeping track of all my closing tags, I get excited and code too fast and then I can't figure out my mistakes. I find that if I close my tags before I continue coding and them type between them I miss fewer tags. 

Q1: What do you plan to do with your new found coding skills?

A1: Make a super cool website of course!  I am hoping to make an awesome website that will help teach medical residents how to build a simulation human neck for teaching the surgical airway!  And hopefully build out a few other educational websites--such as a site to host Emergency Medicine FOAM-Ed videos!

...

When my husband and I got married the thing that I was most concerned with was the cakes. We had about 20 wedding cakes!  My sister and I made the majority of the cakes, she decorated them all, and I had several awesome friends and family that made cakes as well. It was a tasty affair!

Journal 5: Tweet Tweet

I had a twitter briefly when it first came out, but then quickly abandoned it. It didn't see the appeal.  However when I started my fellowship this year, I re-opened my twitter. I am @drwrayray. (my hyphened last name is Wray (my maiden name) - Ray (my married name.)) I really wasn't crazy about entering the twitter world, it seems over whelming, there are short quick snippets, but nothing very "real."  

I use this twitter to connect professionally, as well as for tweeting at conferences (I am learning it is actually quite fun). I follow mostly EM doctors and FOAM-ed (Free Open Access Medical Education) people. I use my twitter as an educational source, somewhere to get additional information and learn on the fly. I regularly search the #FOAM to see what is going on in that world. I also use # for conferences to follow along. (the application TweetDeck is great for this!)

I help manage another twitter account @UCIrvineEM, it is our residency programs twitter where we post bit-sized Emergency Medicine FOAM-ed facts, typically twice a day. I actually find this to be a bit more fun.

Overall I can see the educational benefits for twitter, and am slowly learning to enjoy it!

Q1: Do you or do you not use twitter for educational purposes, why or why not?

A1: As I said above I do, but mostly only for my education, I need to work on having a better social media presence and posting more education facts to my personal twitter. I think it is a great educational opportunity, be it to give reminders about papers/tests or to provide educational snippets.


Q2: What problems do you see yourself encountering if you choose to use twitter for educational purposes?

A2: I think that if I were to post education tidbits on my personal account I might become quickly overwhelmed trying to have enough content and posting regularly.  I prefer to consume with my personal account and post with our residency account (because several of us manage it, its easier to have posts regularly). 

...

I really like to bake. I made this cake for my besties wedding! The base is a Guinness chocolate cake, the middle is almond weeding cake and the top is red velvet! 

Journal 4: CRIC Website

·       Site title – www.cricothyrotomy.com CRIC: The Cost-effective Realistic Interactive Cricothyrotomy

·       Developer – Alisa Wray, MD. I will likely also work with a few co-workers, Dr Shannon Tooney, Dr Eric McCoy and my husband John Ray for content.

·       Rational or focus – Emergency cricothyrotomy is a critical high risk, low frequency procedure that may mean the difference between life and death in those patients whom it is performed on. It is estimated that approximately 0.5 to 2.5 per 10,0000 patient intubated in the Emergency Department will require a surgical airway such as a cricothyrotomy; this means that nearly half of all Emergency Medicine residents will never see a cricothyrotomy during their training, and less than one quarter will perform one. For this reason physicians use simulation models and task trainers to teach the cricothyrotomy. High-fidelity simulation models, animal cadavers or human cadavers offer a realistic approach to the procedure, however they are often expensive and do not replicate the profuse bleeding often encountered when performing a cricothyrotomy. Many others have created simple, easy to make airway models for training in emergency cricothyrotomy. My aim is to expand on these existing models, and to create a “Cost-effective Realistic Interactive Cricothyrotomy” (CRIC) Model, that has a low cost production value, and is easy to make with commercially available products, but also recreates the reality of the anatomy of a cricothyrotomy including bleeding. The goal for my website is to offer a place to give instructions on how to create this CRIC Model so that other programs can have increased options on how to teach and train for this procedure.

·       Main features outline –

o   Main Page

o   How to perform a Cricothyrotomy

o   How to make a CRIC

o   Where to buy Materials

o   About Us

·       Content –

o   Main Page: This page will likely be simple with the rational behind the CRIC and a photo of our CRIC model.  It will also have the links to the other pages/content.

o   How to perform a Criothyrotomy: This page will have the basic information on why and how to performing a cric as well as links or imbedded videos to watch.

o   How to make a CRIC Model: This page will be step by step photo directions on how to make our CRIC model

o   Where to buy materials: This will have links to specific items on popular websites (likely Amazon) to make for easier purchasing.

o   About Us: Will contain short Bios of those involved in the creation of the CRIC Model

·       Target audience – Physicians, Medical Students, Nurses, Paramedics and Military Personal

·       Design considerations – I wan my website to have a clean, modern look and educational look to it, but I do also want it to be fun. I will likely go with bright colors such as yellow and blue, as well as a simple design so that I don’t end up making it too cluttered.

·       Limiting factors - I have the medicine side of this down, as well as the creation of the CRIC model. The hardest part for me will be that web design is new to me, and this will be my first big web design project. I think ultimately I will have bigger expectations than I can meet and will have to keep both my own knowledge of web design and the time frame I have to complete this in mind.

A Site Map 

A wire frame 

Journal 3: The Case for Social Media in Schools

Kessler, Sarah. "The Case for Social Media in Schools." Mashable. N.p., 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2015

http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/#cKC6NqjgJGq2

Kessler starts her article by stating that “Social Media is Not Going Away.” She discusses how the internet has grown, and initially schools refused to allow the use in the class room, however times have changed and “its better to be on the cutting edge” and incorporate social media into education. She discusses that kids learn better when they are engaged, and discusses using blogs for writing assignments, much like this one, as a way to encourage writing as students see writing blogs as “playing” and “fun.” There is, of course, the concern about exposing young students to the internet, predators and other dangers, but Kessler suggests using kid friendly sites suck as www.kidblog.com which is a blogging site developed for children that requires teachers to have key and codes for the students, keeping everyone safe. She discusses ways to use social media for education, rather than mindless browsing, by suggesting students commend on presidential speeches and make videos about sustainability and states that they found that children spent 4-5 less hours on facebook when such assignments, although not graded, were available. Such assignment also encouraged students to collaborate, work together and develop bonds with students who were not in their normal friends ciricle. She discusses using text messaging to help wake chronically late students, to remind students about assignments and send out educational pearls. She ends her article by stating that there are dangers on and off line and that “The teachers and parents who embrace social media say the best way to keep kids safe, online or offline, is to teach them.”

I think that Kessler brings up some great points, she discusses the fears behind social media, as well as ways to incorporate it into educations. Regardless of who is using social media or why, we have to always protect ourselves. Professional and students alike can get into trouble based on what they post to their social media, think of the dentist who recently shot a lion in Africa, he has now lost his dental practice because he posted a photos of him next to his illegal kill. However, I think that when social media is used correctly it can help provide education to the students that are already going to bet checking their twitters and facebooks--small education facts 2-3 times per day add up, and quickly!

Q1: Do you incorporate social media in your student’s education, why or why not and how?

A1: Yes! I think social media is a great way to educate in a fun and non-traditional method.

Although I am involved in teaching adults, so there is less worry about the dangers. But currently we have a twitter account (@UCIrvineEM) that we tweet out education pearls, we also have a resident run blog that posts interesting visual diagnosis images!

Q2: What scares you most about using social media in your classroom?

A2: I work with adult learners, so social media doesn't really scare me, they are consenting adults and can participate at will. I also don't have to worry so much about predators. If I worked with children I think closed accounts, like kidblog would appeal greatly to me, it offers the benefits of social media but without the fear. 

...

This is one of my FAVORITE Cakes. It is Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pound Cake, super easy to make, tasty and feeds a ton!

Journal 2: Affinity Groups and RSS Feeds

Lets start with RSS Feeds. I have been a HUGE proponent of the RSS Feed for about 7 years go, I started with "The Google Reader" while in Medical School as a way to keep up with the million physician blogs I followed--they were the light at the end of the tunnel and a way to see what my life might be like in a few years. As times changed I began to follow more cooking blogs and ultimately my feed has became very "Emergency Medicine Centric."  Unfortunately a few years ago Google dumped The Reader (start the water works). After much searching I stumbled upon www.theoldreader.com, which is designed to replicate the social features of the Google Reader--it allows for "friends" and sharing posts with your friends. I LOVE my reader, to date I have over 100 blogs I follow, probably 20 of these are focused on Emergency Medicine and education/teaching medicine. It keeps things well organized for me, The Old Reader has a search function which makes it easy to find previous posts. I find it much easier than bookmarking blogs or websites, I don't have to remember to visit them everything is organized in one place! I can't say enough great things about RSS feeds.

(disclaimer, because I have had an Old Reader for a few years now I did not create a Digg, I had previously used Digg but preferred the Old Reader and at this point it is well organized and a part of my daily life).

Now, lets talk affinity groups, unfortunately medication education is such a narrow field I had a hard time finding an affinity group specifically for that. Instead I joined www.Edutopia.com, it is a K-12 Education affinity group. Their sections on Game-Base Learning and PBLs intrigued me. I fear that while Edutopia will be interesting it won't be pertinent to my life as a medical Educator. I will continue to search for a community with a better fit for me. In the mean time I will continue to peruse Edutopia and my rss feed (there are a surprising number of EM blogs and EM teaching blogs as EM is a large part of the FOAM (free open access meducation movement). 

...

Q1: How do you feel about RSS feeds, are they for everyone?

A1: I try to get everyone I know to use The Old Reader. I love the organization, the ease of use, that it marks off what you have read, what is left, and allows for sharing amongst friends and the search function.

Q2: How can I make the most of my RSS feed?

A2: It is important to pick the reader that fits your life, do you want to just look at blogs, do you want to have a social component? I love being able to share blog posts with my Old Reader Friends, this avoids cluttering their email inboxes. It is important to organize your reader in a way that won't become overwhelming. Many blogs post daily if not more frequently, if you only check in once a week you can quickly have a couple hundred posts to read! I have many folders: food, medicine, interesting stuff, etc. This helps me decide what I need to read and what is just for fun. Overall, just have fun with it!

...

That is my cat Fletcher. I've had him for 7 years, but only have a handful of pictures of him. He black, a little bit of a cuddly deamon and I am 100% sure that when he licks me he is just testing to see if it is time to eat me yet. We love him. 

Journal 1: Learning Web Design Ch 1-3 Summary

Robbins, J. (2012). Ch 1 - 3. In Learning Web Design: A Beginners Guide to HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Web Graphics (4th ed., pp. 3-49). Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media.

Book Purchased from Amazon.com

bradfrostweb.com

Summary:

In Chapter 1 Robbins discusses that the term “Web Design” encompasses 4 broad disciplines: “design, development, content strategy, and multimedia;” she explains that web designers will often wear several “hats.” She discusses how design not only refers to how a site looks but also in how it works, how it is mapped out and how it interacts with users. Content is created and then organized and monitored. The multimedia portion includes the audio and video components. Discussing HTML5 vs CSS vs JavaScript brought another level of complexity, multiple languages are used to make up a single website; I have never considered the components of a website are so vast, something I interact with on a daily basis is suddenly seems far more complex and intriguing—even more exciting is that this has all developed in the 20 years!

Chapter 2 focuses on “How the Web Works.” I often think of the web as information in space, Robbins does a great job of breaking down where and how the information gets to a webpage—information is hosted and supplied by servers; clients request information using a URLs, which is a unique address that is comprised of very specific components, not random letters or numbers as I had previously thought. The page then loads according to the HTML, which provides the basic information, and CSS, which provides the pretty stuff or design aspects.

In Chapter 3 discusses JavaScript and how webpages interact with differing browsers and devices, called “Responsive Web Design.” I find it brilliant that a single HTML sheet keeps the content same, and different style sheets allow the material to be viewed on differing devices and browsers—this explains while some web sites look different on my iPhone vs my laptop, and others don’t, its all based on the CSS.

...

Q1: When designing a website what are some important things to keep in mind?

A1: Personally, I think it is important to think about how the user or audience will interact with a website; will it be easy to use, is it intuitive to get around? One should also think about how the page will look on different browsers and devices and how quickly it will load. It is important to keep both the frontend and the backend easy to navigate and update and have a site map that allows people to find what they need.

Q2: What can one do to optimize the performance of their webpage designs?

A2: There are many things that one can do to optimize the performace of their webpage these include:

• Minimizing the number of requests made to the server
• Minimizing HTML and CSS by removing extra characters and lines
• Optimize images and graphics by decreasing file size
• Keep JavaScript basic, and have script load in parallel

...

This is Ted:
(our other pup, he's a lab, golden cross)
(and loves his tigger aka "thaly")