A tag by any other name....

Uh oh. As I continue to read and explore, I have noticed that I have been using a different tag than everyone else....omited the s09 at the end. Does that mean that my digital footprint is altered? Is there no classroom trace of all my postings and digital exploration? Feeling sad.

Perhaps I really don't belong here...

I have been working diligently on my course work with minimal successes. While I was awaiting some online help, I decided to explore some of the sites I have joined. It was my PT ning. I have never had any responses to my post there and therefore decided to explore the ning further to see if I was using it incorrectly. What I find is that PT's in general do not seem to be in the 21st century. When I explored, I found at least 50 job opportunities but very little in the realm of professional sharing and absolutely nothing regarding Pediatric PT. I am jealous of all the educators who are involved in this course an can at least feel as if all of the readings and work apply to their professional work. I feel as if my professional work by nature remains in the 20th century. There are certainly some low tech technology that can be utilized in my practice, for example the wii or, if I had the equipment, some computerized exercise equipment (not something I could imagine ever happening). I am disappointed in the sites I have found thus far for PT professional sharing but will continue to search. My current searches have left me pondering if, by natue, PT is meant to stay in the 20th century. Hands on skills and palpation are integral to practice and are difficult to convey in a digital manner. Perhaps I am ahead of my peers by trying to embrace this digital sharing. After reading this weeks reading on citing resources, copyrighting, etc. and some of the implicit rights of educators for using materials, I wonder if it is the opposite for a PT. When I have a challenging situation with a student and am looking for my professional community to support me, I encounter other issues of privacy and hippa rights. If I were seeing a child with a low frequency issue/diagnosis and were to seek advice from my online professional community, I would be fearful of the transparency of my request and that it may be viewed, despite having a lack of specific identifying information, as a breech of confidentiality. I can think back to students I have had with rare diagnoses, such as progeria, werdnig-hoffman disease, Ehler-Danlos syndrome or a specific form of brain tumor. Could my digital footprint be too public for me to effectively utilize my peers in this way? Currently, when faced with this type of challenge, I use Bell's technology and phone my peers to create my professional advice network. It is hard to imagine feeling comfortable regarding being invisible and private and gathering more peers to do this in a digital format. Having hunted today, I am wondering if my medical peers feel the same way.

My wordle is in code. Animoto, too

title="Wordle: pt"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1476797/pt"
alt="Wordle: pt"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

I made a PT wordle but have been unsuccessful posting it on either my blog or my wiki....this is so hard! The same on the animoto I made...I will research uploading and downloading and hope that I make a connection. I keep creating things and leaving them in limbo...eek!

The yo yo is up again

I just came back from class today and again am feeling great about my accomplishments. I learned how to modify my wiki and am feeling confident that I can do it! I just have to hope that this confidence lasts for more than an hour. To add to my confidence boost, I spoke to my mother on the drive home and she told me that I am the talk of the condo now that I solved my father's computer problems. I am going to work on my wiki more now before I forget the new things I learned today!

my global experiences

The question was posed of how much value there was in a global education. 30 years ago when I had a brief (21 days) semester break without clinical affiliations, I took the opportunity to backpack in Europe...about a dozen cities, lots of night trains, days with only stale bread as food, etc. This brief time of seeing this small but different piece of the world through my limited and financially challenged lens was life altering and in some senses, more valuable than my four years of college. When my son had the opportunity to spend a semester abroad, I enthusiastically encouraged him to go for it. Although his college experience at King's College in London has paled in comparison to what he would have experienced had he stayed at BC for the semester, the growth he has experienced on weekends has been amazing. His travels have become progressively more challenging, going for weekends to Brussels and Amsterdam with friends, then to Spain for a week, again with friends and being able to speak the language. Last weekend he went alone to Paris where he did not speak the language at all and is ending his trip with a week traveling alone in Italy. It is hard to imagine any classroom experiences having as much of an impact as this travel and independence. He is becoming aware of how different the world is in these places and has an understanding of how this is merely the tip of the iceberg, as there are far more cultures which are vastly different from us than these large cities. As he becomes more and more responsible for himself, he is realizing that the politics of the world affect him personally, whether it was when he took the wrong train in France and got off in the middle of some type of riot with tanks and tear gas or realizing that if British Airways goes on strike, he could get stuck in Italy and not be able to make it back to London for his return to Boston. This type of real world learning was not something that had been happening at BC. In that traditional learning environment, he did what he always did, nose to the grindstone to complete tasks on time, not over extending and then making sure to have time to play basketball, fantasy football, attend sporting events, etc. When Kim Cofino spoke about the changing educational environment, it range true to me on the college level. Didn't my son learn more by his travels in London and around Europe than he did in the classes he was taking? How much of that travel could be incorporated into his courses and how much can the courses of the future utilize virtual travel? Can a person get a comprehensive and meaningful education out of online courses? Can some of the current expenses of a college education be mitigated by gaining a "Global Online Degree"?

oops

I forgot to tag my muse about my new skills and can't figure out how to edit...but in my book, it's ok to find another way...

A new look on the cup being half full

Time to celebrate my successes....in an inside out kind of way. I took this 21st century course because I was computer phobic and wanted to increase my competence in this area. Within the first month two computers had died on me, one even being sent back to the factory. I persevered and during the next go around, I better understood the importance of diigo and writing down my passwords and user name, not that I am perfect at that yet. So, when my reimaged computer crashed again about a week or two ago....after hours of trying to fix it with customer support where they gave up on a fix for me and convinced me it needed to be reimaged again (where I would lose all my data for a second time), I realized I had no choice but to comply. I called back to get guided in this scary task and was put onto terminal hold. While holding I decided to attack the problem myself and once they answered, they could help me further since I was already in as deep of a hole as possible. So I turned the computer on and off while tapping f12, 6's and whatever other tricks I had learned during the previous sessions. Eventually, I successfully reimaged the computer myself and then reset up outlook express and my printer. Probably easy tasks for computer natives but not me...I was beaming with pride. I did have to resort to my husband's assistance to get word back on, but all in all it was a huge success. I am ignoring that I cannot shut word right now without receiving a message error and I am sure I will have another breakdown when reimage number 3 is needed. I now know that I have to learn how to use a zip drive (is that what those little keychain things that save everything are called?) so that I don't lose everything that isn't on diigo for a third time! I will be prepared and not overwhelmed next time, as I am confident there will be a next time.
My other great success was in helping others with computer skills. My father got a new lap top about a month ago and despite hours of phone calls with the computer support line and verizon, was unsuccessful getting online. He asked for my help and I told him it was doubtful I would be successful because I tended to be computer poison, I would try. After about 1 1/2 hours of work, I had him online and happy.
My failures....I have tried to stay away from them. I have worked hard on my wiki...it still needs more. I took a break from computing during the few weeks of my own and my computer's illnesses and now am not sure if I can keep/catch up effectively enough to complete the tasks of this course.
I am trying very hard to focus upon my successes...they are huge. I am attacking computer problems that would previously cause me to speak disparagingly of the digital age and throw my hands up in the air. I am helping others with their problems. I even offered to figure out how to share work on one document digitally for peers. These are huge gains, perhaps not enough to succeed in this course, but they've taken me to a place where I did not envision I could be at this time.
Sometimes I feel as if I am in the process of dating 21st century skills. It is a love/hate relationship....and I am the fickle one. When things fail, I am ready to sever the relationship and when I succeed in a challenge, the sense of accomplishment is huge. I don't think it will ever be love, but we could become good friends if my partner (technology), could just become more reliable, as I would expect of any good friend!