Guest Blog from Jennifer Smith

Licensed practical nurses (LPNs) play some of the most vital roles in our healthcare system today.  They are responsible for a wide range of patient care, including dressing wounds, giving injections, monitoring temperature and heart rate, and gathering patient information. Some LPNs are even responsible for performing laboratory test and assisting in an infant’s delivery. While most LPNs work in hospitals and other major healthcare centers, many are also employed in nursing homes, doctor’s offices, and home care capacities.

According to estimates compiled by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently 728,670 people employed in the country as licensed practical nurses. While this number may sound high, the Bureau of Labor predicts a significant demand for LPNs in the medium-term future. This prediction fits well with other estimates that highlight the country’s shortfall of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners. The United States has a growing yet aging population and an educational system that makes a healthcare career difficult for many people to pursue. The end result is that nursing jobs stand to remain in high demand for some time.

In light of this, many people are going back to school and taking accredited online lpn programs in order to become a licensed practical nurse. While LPN programs are certainly offered at traditional colleges and vocational schools, the online route is particularly appealing for those who have family obligations, financial constraints, and jobs that they don’t want to quit. Their decision is further strengthened by the quality of online nursing degrees; over the past several years, the top providers of an online nursing education have invested in strengthening and diversifying their options. Top school such as Kaplan University, Jacksonville University, South University, and the University of Phoenix now offer degrees that are fully online, that can equip students with a wide range of specialized opportunities and resources, and that are taught by skilled practitioners in the field. LPN courses at these schools routinely fill up quickly as a result.

If you’re considering becoming an LPN, how can you determine whether an online program is right for you? How can you decide whether a traditional or an online course makes more sense for your current needs as well as your career goals?

To answer these questions, let’s take a look at some of the pitfalls and advantages of taking an accredited online LPN program:

Pitfalls of Online LPN Programs:

• There will be little to no hands-on clinical training
• Students and instructors don’t have the benefit of face-to-face interactions
• A lack of classroom collaboration may leave students less prepared for the team environment in which most LPNs work
• While setting your own study schedule has its advantages, being able to go through the program at your own pace may be problematic for students who are lacking in self-discipline

Advantages of Online LPN Programs:

-The curriculum in an online LPN program is almost identical to that of a traditional program

-Students can set their own pace for assignments and exams, making the course a less stressful experience

-The ability to work from home and on their own time affords students the ability to maintain jobs and family obligations

-Students save money by paying less in tuition and by forgoing the cost of expensive textbooks

-Presentation and lecture materials are usually well-organized, virtually available, and easily accessible

-Online learning can lead to faster rates of comprehension, according to a study from Carnegie Mellon University

-Online universities often have better reputations and excellence standards than the average community college

These are the main pitfalls and advantages to keep in mind when considering an online LPN degree. Ultimately, the decision should be based upon your unique circumstances and goals. If you feel as though you can handle the lack of a physical learning experience, the flexibility, availability, and affordability of an online course are certainly hard to match.

There are still some places available on the “Exploiting Knowledge in Networks” training event next week, Tuesday 4th October.

The training focuses on use of Social Media tools to support Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and self development. The following is brief synopsis of the training and what will be covered:

Introduction:

There is a desire to develop more effective knowledge sharing and a culture of collaboration in most organisations, but little recognition of what this means in terms of staff development and overcoming barriers to change. The enormous growth of social media tools and social/professional networks over the past few years has created new opportunities and new challenges for people and organisations who want to embrace this dynamic world of social interaction and fluid knowledge flows. However, It is not widely recognised that collaboration and knowledge sharing are skills and practices that rarely get taught. It’s something we may learn on the job in a hit or miss fashion. Some people are natural at it. Others struggle to understand it. 

This one day course provides a practical and detailed introduction to social media and social/professional networks that will enable delegates to have a greater understanding of their context for use and deployment within their organisation and for personal and professional development.

Outcomes:

• An understanding of social media tools and social networks, and their context for engagement and knowledge sharing
• An understanding of on-line privacy, reputational risk, and the dichotomy of personal and professional identities
• An understanding of the barriers to knowledge sharing and collaboration and how these can be overcome
• An understanding of the principles for creating a personalised social media toolkit to support on-going learning and collaboration

Programme:

• Overview of the social web
• Risks and rewards in the use of social media
• Creating and maintaining your personal profile
• Social media tools and their context for knowledge sharing
• Listening and observing; an introduction to aggregation, sentiment and tracking tools
• Developing your social network and making connections (includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+)
• Communities of Interest/Practice for personal and professional development
• Practical exercises and examples of Social Media in action

If you’d like to book a place on this training course, go to the TFPL website and click on the “book” link. If you’d like more information about the course then please contact me (e.g. use the comments facility in this blog).

If you can’t make the 4th October event, the course will be repeated on 6th March 2012 and 2nd October 2012.

I’ll be running the above mentioned training course next week in Edinburgh for delegates from Scottish Government and the (Scottish) Improvement Service. The training has been commissioned through TFPL, and details of the event are on the TFPL training pages.

It is perhaps worth noting that – as far as I am aware – this is one of the few training events that focus on social media and social networks for ‘Personal Knowledge Management‘ as opposed to the many and varied events on social media for communications and marketing.  Yes, we’ll cover the elements of communications and marketing, but from the perspective of personal engagement strategies and managing relationships, rather than from a corporate perspective.

A definition of Personal knowledge management (PKM)

Refers to a collection of processes that an individual carries out to gather, classify, store, search, retrieve, and share knowledge in his/her daily activities and how these processes support work activities. It is a response to the idea that knowledge workers increasingly need to be responsible for their own growth and learning and represents a bottom-up approach to knowledge management, as opposed to more traditional, top-down KM . Source: Wikipedia

To quote myself from the course synopsis:

“…..It is not widely recognised that collaboration and knowledge sharing are skills and practices that rarely get taught. It’s something we may learn on the job in a hit or miss fashion. Some people are natural at it. Others struggle to understand it. This one day course provides a practical and detailed introduction to social media and social/professional networks that will enable delegates to have a greater understanding of their context for use and deployment within their organisation and for personal and professional development”

Specific topics covered in the training include:

• Overview of the social web
• Risks and rewards in the use of social media
• Creating and maintaining your personal profile
• Social media tools and their context for knowledge sharing
• Listening and observing; an introduction to aggregation, sentiment and tracking tools
• Developing your social network and managing relationships (includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+)
• Communities of Interest/Practice for personal and professional development
• Practical exercises and examples of Social Media in action
• Building a personalised collaboration toolkit

I have created a general web resource for material used on the training – which is a moving feast, given the rapidly changing environment – and maintain a Diigo social bookmarking group for collecting useful links to social media, social business and social networking resources (feel free to join and contribute !).

The course notes are proprietary, and hence not available from the social media toolkit link, but to give a visual flavour of the content I’ve run the notes through Wordle – which is the image shown at the start of this blog. Click to enlarge.

Please contact me if you are interested in the training or just need more information.

I’ve had a few people asking about the Social Media Game that is mentioned in the “Web 2.0 Tools for Facilitating Knowledge Management” training event that I ran earlier this week. The game was originally developed by Beth Kanter, David Wilcox and Drew Mackie, and has undergone a number of iterations and refinements, resulting in the “Social by Social Game“, which is the version I use for these training events.

The Facilitator’s notes for running the game can be found on the Social by Social website, reproduced below with a few modifications for the way that I run it.

You can play the Social by Social game in two ways – as a simulation around a situation that you invent, or “for real” in relation to a place or an organisation

In each case the sequence is much the same:

Delegates are asked to describe or invent a situation (a problem, or project)  that they are facing. I try to encourage delegates to think about a real work-related situation as opposed to inventing something, otherwise later stages of the game can become a little abstract if there isn’t a real-world context. This then is the scenario.

Delegates are split into groups of not more than eight people, around a theme or set of issues. Then each group:-

1. Defines what they are trying to achieve:  the goals.
2. Identifies the people they wish to engage, choosing methods from a set of cards. Cards have budget points as costs – so you have to prioritise.
3. Think about the communication and engagement methods that are needed to achieve the goals, and choose the social media tools or other activities from another set of cards.
4. Review the plan that is being developed and think about the resources that will be needed, and the roles to carry it out.
5. Choose a number of the characters who figure in the scenario, and tell the stories of what happens to them over some months, or longer.
6. If there is time, the Facilitator can throw in crises and opportunities for the groups to consider – e.g. key resources being pulled from the project, or funding being reduced.

Numbers

You can play with any number from a few people upwards. Ideally you need two groups, so six is a realistic minimum to get useful discussion. If you have large numbers you just split into lots of groups. The effective limit is set by the time it takes for groups to report back – but there are ways around that: see below.

Facilitators

One or two people, respected by participants, should act as facilator(s). They should ensure that participants are briefed; organise the room; manage the flow of the game without being directive; and make sure that any report back and final discussion relates to the purpose of the exercise. They should check that people are clear about the purpose of the workshop, and help them reach useful conclusions.

Equipment

You will need flip chart paper, preferably on easels, marker pens, one set of cards (engagement, tools, resources, roles), blu-tack, post-it notes. If you want a record, you’ll need a camera for photos and maybe video.

Establishing goals

Give groups a planning sheet, and ask each group to write into the top left quadrant their goals – what they are trying to achieve in the situation they are addressing.

• Identify who you wish to engage
• Ask groups to think about the different interests they need to engage with, and make a note of those in the top right quadrant.

Using the cards

Offer the groups the cards that they will use to plan their engagement, and then to develop their plan using the different tools and activities. I split the cards into the various categories and issue them in the following order as the group’s plans develop:

• tools and methods (yellow marking)
• engagement  activities (green marking)
• roles and resources

Each card has a “budget” of effort/cost – 1, 2 or 3. Set budgets so groups can’t choose all the cards: say, 10 for engagement, 15 for tools. Ask groups to stick engagement cards top right, tools bottom right … adding their own ideas on blank cards or post-its, and amending cards if necessary. They are really just aids to conversation … so encourage as much discussion as possible, not just a mechanical exercise of playing the numbers.

After groups have chosen engagement and tools cards, ask them to consider what resources they will need, and what roles.

Reporting back

At this point, invite groups to report back. That could be to the room as a whole or just to the group that provided the challenge, if that’s the way things were set up.

By posting the flip chart sheet to a wall, then inviting people to wander round and review. That’s a good way of doing things if you have a lot groups, and limited time.

Variations of the game

1. A slight variation of the game is that after the scenario and goals have been defined, the “challenge” is swapped with another group, i.e. the other group are now acting as consultants to the first group in delivering a solution that meets their goals, and vice versa. This can lead to some interesting dynamics and forces each group to think about how they present their recommendations to their “customer’ group.
2. The Facilitator can introduce Resource cards where delegates need to consider how the project will be funded and maintained.

I’ve attached  copies of PDF’s containing all the material for running this game, that is:

• Planning Sheet
• Tools/methods cards
• Engagement cards
• Roles cards
• Resource cards

I’d be interested in getting feedback from anyone who has facilitated or took part in this game and whether it achieved the objective of thinking first about the problem and then what tools are required, and not (as so often happens) to implement the tools before really understanding what problem they are meant to fix. I’d also be interested to hear about any other variations of the game that people have developed.

Below is a photo I took of the output from the game from the “Web 2.0 Tools for Facilitating Knowledge Management” training event.

Doing final prep today for the Web 2 tools training course that I’m running on Tuesday 29th March. Key outcomes for the training are:

• An understanding of social networks and social media and the overlap between personal and professional identities.
• An understanding of the barriers to knowledge sharing and collaboration and how these can be overcome.
• Creation of a personalised social computing toolkit to support on-going learning and development in collaborative tools and techniques.

This will be highly practical, hands-on training event, since I firmly believe that you can’t really ‘teach’ social media. The best way to learn is by doing!

The programme includes:

• Social networks, privacy, digital orientations and the increasing overlap between personal and business networking.
• Risk and rewards in on-line engagement and collaboration.
• What does effective collaboration look like and what skills are needed to be an effective collaborator?
• Micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter) and its role as a business tool.
• Social Media Game – a fun game which introduces delegates to the various social media tools, how they can be used to solve real business problems, and the pros and cons of the deployment of these tools.
• The power of social bookmarking for knowledge sharing and collaboration.
• A practical introduction to Web 2.0 collaboration tools, including Google Apps, Blogs and Wikis.
• A practical introduction to social networks and social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare.
• Tools and techniques for developing and fostering successful communities of practice.
• Building a personalised collaboration toolkit.

Venue for the event is:

Etc. Venues

The Hatton

51-53 Hatton Garden

London EC1N 8HN

I’m looking forward to meeting the delegates – a good cross section representing both public and private sectors. It should be a good day!

Having run a number of social media workshops for UK Local Government over the past few months, I will be focusing specifically on how social media and social networking (Web 2.0) can support the development of personal learning – ‘Knowledge Management’ at the forthcoming TFPL training event on 24th March 2010 – open to both public and private sector organisations.

There has been considerable interest in this training so I’m anticipating that there may be a few more courses shceduled in the coming year.

Details of the training below:

introduction:

There is a growing recognition but not yet a consensus about integrating Web 2.0 technologies into an organisation’s workflows and business processes. There is a desire to develop more effective knowledge sharing and a culture of collaboration amongst staff, but little recognition of what this means in terms of organisational change. Successful organisations need to be agile and able to adapt to an increasingly volatile environment. They are more likely to achieve this where conversations can flow and opportunities exist for collaboration and co-creation. In essence, we all need to be collaboration ‘superstars’. The problem is, collaboration is a skill and set of practices that rarely gets taught. It’s something we may learn on the job in a hit or miss fashion. Some people are natural at it. Others struggle to understand it.

This one day course provides a practical and detailed introduction to Web 2.0 tools and techniques that will support more effective collaboration and knowledge sharing, and will give greater confidence to staff that may be on the periphery of the socio-technology changes that are becoming increasingly prevalent in both their professional and private lives.

outcomes:

• An understanding of social networks and social media and the overlap between personal and professional identities.
• An understanding of the barriers to knowledge sharing and collaboration and how these can be overcome.
• Creation of a personalised social computing toolkit to support on-going learning and development in collaborative tools and techniques.

programme:

• Social networks, privacy, digital orientations and the increasing overlap between personal and business networking.
• Risk and rewards in on-line engagement and collaboration.
• What does effective collaboration look like and what skills are needed to be an effective collaborator?
• Micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter) and its role as a business tool.
• Social Media Game – a fun game which introduces delegates to the various social media tools, how they can be used to solve real business problems, and the pros and cons of the deployment of these tools.
• The power of social bookmarking for knowledge sharing and collaboration.
• A practical introduction to Web 2.0 collaboration tools, including Google Apps, Blogs and Wikis.
• A practical introduction to social networks and social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare.
• Tools and techniques for developing and fostering successful communities of practice.
• Building a personalised collaboration toolkit.

Please contact me or TFPL if you are interested in attending a future course, or having a tailored training event for your organisation.