wikis, blogs and podcasts: emerging tools for virtual collaboration and learning in the health...

Wikis, Blogs and Podcasts: Emerging Tools for Virtual Collaboration and Learning in the Health Sciences

Joanne HamiltonFaculty Developer

Agenda

• Introduction• Wikis• Blogs• Podcasts (m-learning)• Ten Best Practices• Advantages and

disadvantages• Remedies• Discussion

Introduction

Why Bother?• Collaboration tools• Technical Skill• Many uses

– Research– Education– CPD– Content development

A Growing Interest: A Growing Interest: ArticlesArticles

A Growing Interest: BooksA Growing Interest: Books

Wiki’s

• A Wiki is a web page that can be viewed and modified by anybody with a web browser.

• Wiki: from a Hawaiian word for quick

• Asynchronous • Group collaboration• Can be multi-media• Dynamic knowledge bases

Why use wikis?

• Enables collaboration• Engages students in

learning• Quick & easy to set up• Advanced features: RSS

feeds, page history

Wiki’s• Uses:

– A whole course site – Ongoing resource for students

and teachers– Develop student writing– Bring in outside resources– A workspace for students to plan

and develop a final product. (or researchers or teachers!)

– Project development with peer review

– Track a group project– Collaborative curriculum

development– Group authoring

Wiki’s• Wikis may work best for

– knowledge building “over time”– progressive problem-solving– explaining increasingly diverse

and contrary ideas, as well as examining the relatedness of ideas from diverse contexts

– combining, synthesizing and evaluating definitions and terminology across disciplines

– questioning underlying causes and principles

– critically reading, and responding in a constructive and public way, to others’ work

Health/Medical Wiki ExamplesHealth/Medical Wiki Examples


Rosacea Wiki

Wikis, blogs and podcasts all use RSS*, which is now natively supported by/built into Windows Internet Explorer 7. Users can easily set up 'feeds' to automatically receive updates from their favourite services.

* RSS = Really Simple Syndication

RSS RSS FeedsFeeds

Health Informatics Entry in WikipediaHealth Informatics Entry in Wikipedia

Wikis: Easy EditingWikis: Easy Editing

Wikis: Versioning Wikis: Versioning CapabilityCapability

Wikis: Versioning Wikis: Versioning CapabilityCapability

Tip: Citing a wiki page in your work can be very tricky (unless one uses the new ‘permanent link’ feature in MediaWiki to point to a specific revision of that page). Because of the dynamic editable nature of wikis, a page might significantly change and become a totally different article than the one you were originally referring to (while still maintaining the same URL).

Wikis: Comparing Wikis: Comparing VersionsVersions

Blogs• Short for Web Log • Chronological in nature• Different types:

– Personal commentary and links– Reflective journaling– Editorials

• Usually Discussion / two way communication

• Example: Dean of Arts (UofM)

• http://www.answers.com/topic/blog

http://www.answers.com/topic/blog



Blogs in Education

• Instructors:– Content related

(professional practice)– Networking– Instructional tips for

students– Course announcements and

readings– Annotated links– Knowledge managements

Blogs in Education

• Students:– Reflective or writing

journals– Knowledge management– Assignment submission and

review– Dialogue for group work– E-portfolios– Share course related

resourcesFrom www.weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs

http://casesblog.blogspot.com http://clinicalcases.blogspot.com/

Health/Medical Blog ExamplesHealth/Medical Blog Examples

http://casesblog.blogspot.com/

http://clinicalcases.blogspot.com/









Automatic Feed

Detection in Internet

Explorer 7


http://digutmb.blogspot.com/




Each post to the blog is also a standalone Web page with a unique URL. This facilitates linking to and organising content within the same blog and from external sites.

Blog FeaturesBlog Features

Blog Features: Easy Blog Features: Easy PostingPosting

Blog Features: Easy Blog Features: Easy PostingPosting

Posting a clinical photo from your digital camera directly to your blog after optimisation and adding your comments can also be made at the touch of a button using a free Google product called Picasa.

http://picasa.google.com/

Blog Features: Posting Blog Features: Posting PhotosPhotos

Also these days mobile phones with 2+ megapixel cameras can instantly post high resolution clinical photos to photoblogs/ moblogs on the Web.









More Info…• http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/

pdf/ELI7006.pdf

“Because blogs engage people in knowledge sharing, reflection, and debate, they often attract a large and dedicated readership.”

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7006.pdf

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7006.pdf

Podcasts (and vodcasts)

• “Podcasting’s essence is about creating content (audio or video—vodcasts) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want.”*

• Can use RSS to push content to subscribers* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

Podcasts and m-Learning (Mobile Learning)

• Advantages:– Listen on your computer or download to portable MP3 players

and listen on the move/anywhere

– Support for auditory learners (it is claimed that the primary learning style in at least 30% of learners is auditory).

Source: Meng P. Podcasting and Vodcasting: A White Paper. University of Missouri, 2005http://edmarketing.apple.com/adcinstitute/wp-content/Missouri_Podcasting_White_Paper.pdf .

http://edmarketing.apple.com/adcinstitute/wp-content/Missouri_Podcasting_White_Paper.pdf

http://edmarketing.apple.com/adcinstitute/wp-content/Missouri_Podcasting_White_Paper.pdf

Pedagogical Podcasting (podagogy)

• Avoid complex or dense content material.– People often are engaged in

other activities while listening

• Narrow focus• Avoid using classroom

lectures recordings

Requirements for successful podagogy!

• Appropriate length• Informal tone and high

energy• Clear context• End with a review• Consider different

learning styles (transcripts?)

Health/Medical Podcast Health/Medical Podcast ExamplesExamples

New York University ophthalmology CME programs via podcast. Displayed here as an RSS feed in Windows Internet Explorer 7. Users can subscribe to the feed to automatically receive updates. They can use Windows Media Player to listen to the MP3 files.

You don’t need a dedicated ‘podcatcher program’ if you are running the latest Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)/Windows Vista.Podcasts use RSS, which is now natively supported by/built into IE7.


The Arizona Heart Institute http://www.cvmd.org/mission.phttp://www.cvmd.org/mission.phphp and the Cleveland Clinic http://www.clevelandclinic.http://www.clevelandclinic.org/org/healthedge/healthedge/ offer video podcasts for healthcare professionals as well as for patients.


Podcasts are already being used in medical school curricula.

http://webweekly.hms.harvard.edu/archive/2006/0130/student_scene.htmlhttp://webweekly.hms.harvard.edu/archive/2006/0130/student_scene.html

Health/Medical Podcast Health/Medical Podcast DirectoryDirectory

More Info…• http://www.educause.edu/ir/

library/pdf/ELI7003.pdf

• Podcasting for health professionals http://denison.uchsc.edu/newsletter/issues/updateFEB06.html#3

• Carleton University vodcast experiment http://www.carleton.ca/cutv/vod/vodcast.htm

Advantages

•Two main big advantages: –Ease of use–Low Cost

Advantages:

• Ease of Use:– WYSIWYG– Simple to use

Advantages:

• Low Cost:– Free ware– Share ware

• Examples include MediaWiki http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki (Open Sourcethe same software package that runs Wikipedia) and Google Blogger (free) http://www.blogger.com/start

Disadvantages

• Wikis and blogs:– Vandalism– Quality Issues– Copyright

• Podcasts:– Access (bandwidth)– Access (hearing impaired)– One way communication

• No audience participation

– Need technical help

Lack of vital article meta-information:

Quality Issues – Cont’d

Remedies: Open Wiki’s and Blogs

• Monitoring and moderating– Can be very

time-consuming/human resource intensive.

• Of interest:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vandalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Counter_Vandalism_Unithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cleaning_up_vandalism

Remedies: ‘Closed Environment’ Scenario

• Limit who can use blogs and wikis’.– Everyone else read only or post limited

(moderated) comments (to build a community).

Remedies: ‘Closed Environment’ Scenario

• If desired: add others – (eg. From the practice

community) as they are identified and deemed trustworthy

“A wiki on gene function, which utilizes the collective brain power of biologists around the world, would be an invaluable tool for biological sciences.”

Ten Best Practices

1. Create a culture of trust among participants.

2. Set up conventions and require students to abide by these.

3. Have a common goal for all participants.

Ten Best Practices (con’t)

4. Assign meaningful, authentic activities.

5. Include explicit instructions and provide time for practice.

6. Remind students of course deadlines and schedules.

Ten Best Practices (con’t)

7. Define and identify roles for collaborative activities.

8. Provide clear and explicit course expectations.

9. Model examples of collaborative activities.

• Be patient with students and realize they may need help.

What’s Next?

• Careful thinking is needed in order to find the best ways to use these emerging tools to boost our productivity, provide valuable educational experiences, foster better ‘communities of practice’, and support our continuing professional development (CPD).

What’s Next?

• Stakeholders’/prospective users’ representatives (healthcare professionals and students) must be adequately involved in this process.

An Online Journal Club Users can rate and discuss medical literature, and share their thoughts on any paper instantly online. This has the potential of improving communication amongst physicians and leading to better understanding and interpretation of medical literature.

New Initiative—Open Access 2.0Interactive papers that authors can edit after publication and more (PLoS ONE - http://www.plosone.org/)

Inspired by the successful Yahoo! 360° model, the resultant ‘use scenarios’ should also be designed to provide the ‘binding glue’ for the different technologies on offer (wikis, blogs/ photoblogs and podcasts/ vodcasts) and existing online medical/health information services, integrating them synergistically into one coherent, whole and unique user experience.

wikis, blogs and podcasts: emerging tools for virtual collaboration and learning in the health...

Documents

wiki page

bookswikisa wiki

web page

page historywikisuses

collaborationengages

web browser

windows internet explorer

web log chronological