TLT 471 TQ14 Course Feedback

Dear Dr. Garrigan,

I apologize for the delay in providing you feedback regarding our class this semester. Submitting the last book synthesis project, traveling abroad and then returning to the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Holiday season seems to have idled my brain somewhat.

Given that I’m in the people development business, I assess the effectiveness of any course by my growth, or output, throughout the semester and by what knowledge (if any) that I can pass on to others. That said, the coursework this semester maintained my interest by exposing me to many new authors whose ideas significantly broadened my knowledge regarding technology. I was profoundly impacted by the Cory Doctorow novel in particular and am still thinking about how technology should be leveraged safely, for good and not for evil. I have passed on Little Brother to my 16-year old daughter who is now reading it as her one elective novel for her honors English class.

The coursework this semester was also meaningful and relevant. As we have discussed on several occasions, I truly appreciate your flexibility in allowing my project work to be connected to business versus academic learning and development. This has allowed me to apply new knowledge directly into practice. The technology plan and case study projects in particular exposed me to many issues that I hadn’t considered for a very real simulation-based training research project, which I am trying to get funded at B. Braun. A summary of the technology plan will be presented to my board of directors on December 14. If I secure the funding for this important research I will owe much to the new knowledge gained during this course. I’m confident that once funded, this research will birth a validated simulation-based training program that will result in improved nursing practice and better patient care.

Finally, the work load this semester was HEAVY. I think that this is a good thing. Growth in knowledge or changes in attitudes and/or behaviors simply doesn’t occur without effort. You have high expectations and demand much cognitive “product” (which seems always overwhelming), but hard work, or deliberate, increasingly difficult practice increases expertise in any field.

Thank you for your passion, influence, and guidance this semester. I believe that the new technology planning knowledge that I have gained will make me a better educational leader.

TQ#9: To All Faculty and Students: Please, Use the School Computers Fearfully

I’d like to paraphrase how federal laws (CIPA and COPPA) influence school technology policies (Anywhere USA School District). Perhaps I am over simplifying, but would you sign the following user agreement, acceptance and consent form?

I understand and agree to abide by the following “limited self-discovery” computer use policies. I also understand that all of my files, research, and digital conversations are not private and will be monitored. Any violation of the computer use policies below, whether intentional or unintentional, mat result in denial of access to technology, probation, detention, suspension, expulsion, or civil and criminal prosecution. Anywhere USA School District will fully cooperate with local, state or federal officials related violations of any of the illegal computer use activities listed below.

1. I will not share personal information about myself or others.
2. I will not engage in inappropriate conversations.
3. I will not contact or be contacted by another person who might be considered inappropriate.
4. I will not view or allow others to view content that is copyrighted or protected by trade secret.
5. I will not view or allow others to view content that is annoying, threatening, harassing or causes distress to another person.
6. I will not view or allow others to view content that is obscene or pornographic.
7. I will not view or allow others to view content that advocates violence.
8. I will not view or allow others to view language that might be considered offensive, defamatory, or abusive.
9. I will not download any files, or install any programs, or change any configurations or settings to address any of my individual preferences.
10. I will immediately report any computer use policy violation by others to Anywhere USA School District authorities.

The US government is totally out of control. It seems as if their only function these days is getting in people’s way. If I were a judge presiding over a challenge to these kinds of restrictive technology policies I would rule for the people. I would rule against any totalitarian regime that limits free speech in any form or format.

TLT 471 TQ#6: Is it Safer to be an Individual or Interdependent Part of a Vulnerable Collective?

The readings and videos reviewed this week have been thought provoking - to say the least. In the back of my mind I have silently worried about my family's vulnerability related to an accelerating dependence on the networked world for several years now and have been taking steps to protect us in the event that our digital umbilical cord is severed due to any number of catastrophic events. This week's work has served to exacerbate my anxieties related to personal security and privacy as we slide down this slippery slope of connectedness. That being said, the same technology that makes us so very vulnerable also continues to give us a competitive edge in an increasingly competitive and flatter world. So how do we maintain our economic value as employees by leveraging technology while reducing our vulnerability and risk at the same time? I suggest a "redundancy" lifestyle.

I disagree with Laurie Garrett's view that "individual preparedness" for pandemics, [terrorism, and/or insurrection and revolution] is "irrational." I'm sure there are many who would also consider those of us who seriously consider that these kinds of catastrophic events are probable as "irrational." But the global financial near-meltdown of 2008 clearly demonstrates that individual preparedness for these kinds of predictable catastrophic events is a wise course of action, whereas dependence on government preparedness is absolute folly given their historic track record of "responsible" stewardship.

So what does a "redundancy" lifestyle mean? It means that we should continue to be active members of the global digitally connected community. Understanding technology and learning how to effectively leverage technology makes us professionally and personally more efficient and productive. But we should also all learn how to become digitally invisible. Even though I am technology illiterate from an IT back-end perspective, I am now committed to learn as much as I can about software and hardware solutions that can keep me safe, and have just purchased "Counter Hack Reloaded" to begin this process. A redundant lifestyle means that we should continue to purchase food at our local grocery stores, but we should also consider learning how to garden so we can grow our own as well. It means we should learn to hunt and fish. It means we should consider stockpiling some nonperishable food for emergency. A redundant lifestyle means that (most of us) should stay on the electrical power grid, but we should also consider installing secondary sources for heat including gas auxiliary generators, solar panels and batteries, and/or wood/coal burning stoves. A redundant lifestyle means that we should continue to rely on community water sources, but should also consider digging an auxiliary well or purchasing an emergency water storage system. It means that we shouldn't abandon our banks, but we should spread a diversity of fiscal resources across several financial institutions. It means we should also have immediate access to emergency "hard" currency. A redundant lifestyle means that we should continue to trust our community hospitals and their dedicated clinical personnel, but we should also learn basic diagnostic and first aid skills and have an emergency stockpile of medications to minimize pain, reduce inflammation, and eradicate bacterial infections.

A redundant lifestyle means we should adopt both new and old world pioneer attitudes to survive the coming storm. Fortunately, we have unlimited access to information to learn these old world pioneering skills in our digitally interdependent connected world.

TLT 471 TQ#5 Technology Planning Reflections: What I Have Learned So Far.

It’s all about money. This is what I have been thinking about most recently in my technology planning project. Even if I sell the idea that a comprehensive simulation-based nursing peripheral IV catheter (PIVC) procedure training curriculum will improve nursing practice (which will result in better patient care) it may not matter unless I can confidently predict that the money invested in the project will return more than the dollars invested.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been laboring to establish the budget that is needed to implement PIVC simulation-based curriculum research. Based on my analysis, I believe that a 14 Month, 4-Phase research program to create and validate a PIVC value-add clinician training will cost $307,450. This budget includes dollars allocated for eLearning pre-work ($50,000), simulation software and hardware ($85,000), clinician advisors/consultants ($32,000), reimbursement for partner hospital clinical staff time ($135,450), and IRB application submission fees ($5,000). During the course of this study we will be training approximately 60 nurses. I worry that a $307,450 budget or a short-term perception of $5,124 per nurse trained might overcome the intuitive “vision” of how this training program could positively impact our business long-term.

Ultimately, the PIVC simulation-based training program (if validated by our research) will be rolled out in multiple ways. The simplest to disseminate/execute will be to offer a new RN graduate 2-day PIVC certification program in a stand-alone simulation education center. Based on my analysis, I believe that the total year-one budget for this program will be $91,926. This budget includes allocated dollars for simulation software and hardware, as well ($34,000), but will also utilize the simulation equipment that is utilized in the aforementioned study, more fully leveraging these capital resources. The budget also includes allocated dollars for a clinical course facilitator ($30,800), and course disposables ($27,126). We believe that we have the capacity to train 154 nurses at this 2-day PIVC certification course in 2010 concurrently with our research project. Thus the total $399,376 proposed budget for both technology-based training initiatives will result in 214 nurses trained in 2010, or $1,866 per participant. Still high from a short-term perspective, but I’m hopeful that the additional nurses trained during the 2-day PIVC certification program in years two and three will reduce the per-participant cost of the course over time. For example, after the initial simulator capital outlay in year one, the cost to continue the 2-day program is just $57,926, or $376.14 per nurse participant.

By spreading the total three year budget of $423,302 over 522 total nurses trained (60 during research and 154 trained during the 2-day course in 2010, 2011 and 2012), average participation costs are further reduced to $810.92. This is a conservatively high number given that 2,400 nurses graduate from 47 nursing schools within 50 miles of Bethlehem annually so our inevitable expansion of the program will further reduce individual participant costs dramatically.

Even though the budget to conduct simulation-based PIVC training is predicted to trend (positively) downward over time, whether or not these better trained nurses will ultimately result in increased IV catheter sales is still a leap of faith. Unfortunately, we won’t know if the dollars invested in this program will return more than the dollars invested until long after we place the bet. So I continue to worry about my ability to sell an ROI vision that doing the right thing for nurses and their patients will positively impact the business bottom line.

Adversary, a new book by Kevin R. Glover

How do we explain to a child why a loving God allows bad things to happen to good people? How can a child make sense of a world permeated by evil and a loving all-powerful Creator? The Adversary, A Christian illustrated novel, addresses these questions by helping middle graders better understand the epic struggle between good and evil throughout biblical history

The major events of the Old and New Testaments are told by Obsessious, a small black, adolescent, celestial spirit who is ostracized by most of the other angels and archangels in heaven when God creates the first earth. Obsessious is drawn to Lucifer, God’s prince on earth, who pays attention to the lonely little angel by assigning him menial tasks. When Lucifer tries to overthrow God, he and the angels who stand with him, including Obsessious, are banished to a dark and ruined earth before Adam and Eve.

After God reforms the ruined earth, and creates man, Lucifer becomes increasingly unbalanced while trying to undermine the worldlings and retain his power. Children struggling with trying to understand their own “dark” sides will find a sympathetic character in Obsessious, who slowly regrets the bad decision he made to follow Lucifer instead of God. Obsessious fears his master and soon realizes that Lucifer’s war with God can never be won. He desperately wants to escape Lucifer, but lacks the courage to do so until he listens to Jesus and slowly understands the meaning of His parables. While Lucifer and his rogue angels seek to destroy God’s Son, Obsessious seeks and finds his own redemption.

Adversary is available at: http://www.lulu.com/ (search adversary, glover)
Adversary will be available soon at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

TLT 471 TQ#4: Is the MFA the new MBA or is the future owned by MSMAs?

Andy Grove has been credited with the motto that, “Only the paranoid survive.” Tom Middleton, my very first real boss told me repeatedly me as a young salesman that everyone was my competition. I was selling pharmaceuticals at the time to general practitioners in Southeastern Ohio. Tom’s message was that I wasn’t just competing with other pharmaceutical salesman for quality face time with the doctor. He meant that I was also competing with everything else and everybody else who was vying for the doctor’s attention including the copier salesman, the office supply salesman, his wife, his kids, his patients and every transient thought or stomach grumble that might divert his availability, time and attention away from me. As a very impressionable young man at twenty-two, I learned early in my career that differentiation is the key to success. In addition, I learned that differentiation is often short-lived so a commitment to a life-long learning process was required to continuously broaden my skill set to always expand my ability to make personal and professional choices.

Daniel Pink suggests, in A Whole New Mind, that right-brained aptitudes will be more difficult to replicate in the new conceptual age. He argues that as information becomes more widely disseminated, and as products become cheaper and more abundant, due to the rise of the Asian knowledge worker and automation, it all becomes less valuable. He argues that the people who will thrive in this new era are those who can make sense of this often superficial, mass-manufactured, data-based tsunami by taking the data and communicating it with emotional impact in a way that is relevant to those they seek to influence. Pink’s fundamental argument is to differentiate oneself.

I’ve been creating and using stories for years now to differentiate myself from “competitors.” I use these stories in presentations, lectures, and in follow up correspondence, which includes these stories as well as hand written notes. I use these story cards (pictured above) to motivate, inspire and teach. The return on this investment of creating, producing and physically sending these cards out has proven itself well beyond anything I could have every achieved with an email message. I have “overcome modern life’s glut of options and stimuli” with mini-symphonies of story, art and personal investment that is not easily replicated by others. This act of creating what some would consider a low tech communication piece was only possible with modern technology - digital cameras, scanners, Abobe InDesign and Photoshop, and HP inkjet printers, which can produce inexpensive, high quality cards in low volumes. So, is this act of differentiation a left-brained (MS) or right-brained (MA) process? I argue both.

Ray Kurzweil suggests, in The Singularity is Near, that humans will be forced to merge with their created machines since the exponential growth in non-biological computing power will far outstrip our lame processing speeds. He foresees a future in which humans and machines will ultimately evolve together. His predictions that at some point the machine itself becomes “self-aware” and is able to independently become a creator itself is a truly frightening prospect. Perhaps I’ve seen too many science fiction movies, but I don’t buy his argument that this machine “intelligence that arises from the singularity will have great respect for their biological heritage.” In the evolutionary processes that Kurzweil so eloquently describes I don’t see where a “survival of the fittest” end game doesn’t play itself out – but I’m only through 100 pages of the book so far so I’ll reserve judgment. The one thing that I do believe is that the exponential hockey stick of technological innovation is inevitable and only those who endeavor to learn about and use it will be able to leverage the new tools to differentiate themselves in the new conceptual age. Even though I fear where we may let technology take us I tend to be an early adopter of technology – always seeking for ways to give myself an edge over my competition. I learned word processing and how to make electronic spreadsheets on a Commodore 64 machine. I bought a $1,300 mobile “bag” phone. I did these things to be able to address my customer’s issues and concerns faster. Through technological solutions I could be the first to empathize with their fear, uncertainty and doubt. So, was this act of differentiation a left-brained (MS) or right-brained (MA) process? I argue both.

For me the focus of education now and into the future should be to facilitate and encourage student creation of all kinds to reinforce this notion of differentiation for competitive advantage. The act of creation with and without technology is an experiential learning process that leads to the real application of knowledge and a life-long love for learning.

TLT 471 TQ#3: Was our assignment really a tech plan?

I have been struggling with this notion of technology as an educational solution ever since I joined the LST MS program in 2005. As has been noted in most of the research we have read this semester, a “slapped on” technological solution of any kind that is not integrated into the core curriculum, typically does not yield anticipated learning outcomes. So I have approached this project as an educational intervention which happens to include a robust technology component. As such, my part 1 assessment of the target audience’s current state is more focused on offering a compelling argument to convince them that they have a problem, which at present they don’t see.

My “school district” is a typical average hospital. My hypothesis is that a comprehensive nursing peripheral IV catheter (PIVC) procedure training curriculum, which includes deliberate, increasingly difficult practice with task-based simulators, and human factors simulation, will ultimately reduce the number of peripheral IV catheter (PIVC) insertion attempts and the length of the PIVC procedure resulting in less adverse events like pain, phlebitis, infiltration and infection.

The need to build this compelling argument was discovered after researching many new hire nursing orientation programs. New nurse graduates (who have usually received no previous training in the PIVC procedure) receive 15-60 minutes of venipuncture procedural skills training in a classroom setting. During this brief training, they received a didactic lecture that reviews the the hospital's venipuncture procedure (checklist) and the classroom instructor models the procedure with a simulated prosthetic plastic arm. The instructor is often a nurse who is not certified in the venipuncture procedure. The full capabilities of the prosthetic simulation arm are typically not used during the training presentation and quite often the procedural instructions given are not up to date with current Infusion Nursing Society guidelines. Student practice on the prosthetic plastic arm during the classroom training is also usually voluntary. After this orientation, most new hire nurses are matched with hospital unit preceptors who are responsible for validating the new hire nurse’s PIVC procedure competency. Preceptors are usually not certified PIVC procedure practitioners nor has their procedural competency been validated or assessed before taking on the preceptor role. Typically, there are no formal new hire nurse PIVC competency criteria, no number of procedures required, and no summative assessments. Usually, these non-certified preceptors subjectively determine when new hire nurses can do the PIVC procedure competently based upon their own individual requirements.

Even though program instructors often recognize deficiencies in the PIVC training component of new hire nurse orientation resources are always limited and they often feel that their executive administrators will not see any value in freeing up additional PIVC instructional time. Since increased instructional time with a new mastery learning technology-based curriculum is needed to test our hypothesis, my “current state” assignment needs to include a review of these typical existing instructional issues. I needed to make credible predictions of patient risk associated with current instructional practices. Unless potential gaps are clearly identified and agreed to by all key stakeholders in any hospital I have no hope of selling them on the vision of a better mastery learning technology-based curriculum or its subsequent implementation.