Final Blog Post for Summer Course

It has been an interesting summer semester, to say the least.  The review of the chosen Web 2.0 tools have been enlightening for me and encouraged me to find new ways of educating our learner groups.  While it takes a great deal of time to search out some of the tools and learn how to effectively use them, once the user is comfortable with some of them they can easily use the to initiate new learning techniques and engage the learners in new ways.

In this post, I will briefly reflect on each of the tools that I reviewed this semester.  

1. Fuze: Communication tool that encompasses collaboration, presentation, and discussion capabilities.  I can see utilizing this tool in an education setting where physicians and educators can share content and meeting resources in a setting where learners can meet and provide feedback.  The instructor can post digital images, mock patient records, and additional resources for real-time learning.  I hope to use this tool in the future and encourage our medical student and residency educators to do the same.

2. Blabberize: Creativity tool with photos.  As I expressed in my blog post, while I think it is a novelty tool, I don't see using it in my educational setting.  However, I could see where some educators could use it to share information about specific techniques or educational information.  Blabberize is very easy to use, but not something that benefits medical students or residents more than a couple of times, based on my own brief experiences with it.

3. Text2MindMap: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving tool.  This was my first experience with mind map development and I could easily see connections on how to make this a useful tool for educational purposes.  I used it as a tool to share with the class the different specialties of residency/fellowship programs at Methodist.  By being able to separate them into medical, surgical, and pathology-based programs, the learners could then see what individual programs are sponsored at Methodist.  This was a very basic use of this tool, but I can see using it in future opportunities.

4. Flisti: Easy-to-use feedback tool. Flisti is a very easy to use web application tool that allows the user to create a simple, one-question survey or poll to provide to participants embedded on websites or sharing on other social media sites.  While I can see this as a valuable tool when trying to gauge very individual and minor thoughts of a learner, the inability to add questions makes this tool less user friendly and informational than a survey tool similar to that of Survey Monkey.  I do not foresee using this tool in the future.

5. Convert PDF to Word: Productivity tool. The final and most likely the tool that I will use most, was this one that converts PDF documents to Word documents.  This allows the user to modify the document to fit their needs or update information that may be on the original document in need of modification.  In the world of medical education, we share a variety of documents and information that is useful based on similar accreditation requirements.  Many, however, post in a PDF format to prevent changes or make the document "locked" in and many times fillable without experiencing format changes.  I can see using this for the creation of evaluation materials and other documents useful to learners.

I've learned a great deal this semester. I look forward to using some of these tools as I continue to learn the importance of engagement and introducing new learning techniques into the virtual and traditional classroom.