Online Boards Research Articles

The impact of an online interprofessional course in disaster management competency and attitude towards interprofessional learning

A recent national assessment of emergency planning in Canada suggests that health care professionals are not properly prepared for disasters. In response to this gap, an interprofessional course in disaster management was developed, implemented and evaluated in Toronto, Canada from 2007 to 2008. Undergraduate students from five educational institutions in nursing, medicine, paramedicine, police, media and health administration programs took an eight-week online course. The course was highly interactive and included video, a discussion forum, an online board game and opportunity to participate in a high fidelity disaster simulation with professional staff. Curriculum developers set interprofessional competency as a major course outcome and this concept guided every aspect of content and activity development. A study was conducted to examine change in students' perceptions of disaster management competency and interprofessional attitudes after the course was completed. Results indicate that the course helped students master basic disaster management content and raised their awareness of, and appreciation for, other members of the interdisciplinary team. The undergraduate curriculum must support the development of collaborative competencies and ensure learners are prepared to work in collaborative practice.

Designing and testing a web‐based board game for teaching information literacy skills and concepts

PurposeThis paper seeks to focus on the design and testing of a web‐based online board game for teaching undergraduate students information literacy skills and concepts.Design/methodology/approachProject team members with expertise in game play, creative writing, programming, library research, graphic design and information seeking developed a web‐based board game in which students used digital library resources to answer substantive questions on a scholarly topic. The project team hosted game play in a class of 75 undergraduate students. The instructor offered an extra‐credit incentive to boost participation resulting in 49 students on 13 teams playing the game. Post‐game focus group interviews revealed problematic features and redesign priorities.FindingsA total of six teams were successful meeting the criteria for the instructor's grade incentive achieving a 53.1 percent accuracy rate on their answers to substantive questions about the black death; 35.7 percent was the accuracy rate for the seven unsuccessful teams. Discussed in detail are needed improvements to problematic game features such as offline tasks, feedback, challenge functionality, and the game's black death theme.Originality/valueInformation literacy games test what players already know. Because this project's successful teams answered substantive questions about the black death at accuracy rates 20 points higher than the estimated probability of guessing, students did the research during game play which demonstrates that games have merit for teaching students information literacy skills and concepts.

The rise of enterprise 2.0

This paper looks at how collaborative technologies are being adapted inside the enterprise, based on global field research involving more than 2,800 executives, and enriched by an online board discussion contrasting motivations of early versus late adopters of ‘enterprise 2.0’. It is observed that ‘enterprise 2.0’ diffusion is relatively rapid and that one key rationale of adoption is to leverage new dimensions of collaborations that can form the basis for a new source of competitive advantage. While there is evidence of large pay-offs from the use of ‘enterprise 2.0’, the key challenge lies not in the promise of the technology, but more into superb execution — the paper closes with a set of key themes for successful implementation.

Influential factors on physicians' behaviour towards the medical web messaging board: a qualitative exploration

In the past, researches showed that patients expected to communicate with physicians through the internet, but physicians presented conservative attitudes. In this research, researchers interview 20 physicians who have communicated with patients through the medical web messaging board. The results reveal some factors that influence physicians' behaviour towards adopting it: in the personal aspect, physicians' slow typing skills in Chinese and patients' insufficient medical knowledge are factors. In the medical aspect, diseases changing with time, and the complexity of the medical knowledge are factors. In technological aspects, lack of instant response device and physical examination are factors. Thus, physicians avoid diagnosing through the online board. Physicians use the online board to educate and comfort patients.

Computer Use by a District Dietetic Association

Central Pennsylvania Dietetic Association (CPDA) has accomplished three major projects dealing with computers: (1) CPDA listserv. (2) on-line board meeting, and (3) sending board information via email.Since 1994 the CPOA Listserv has been a forum for members to share information. This year a Listserv Network was started because it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the volume of email from multiple listservs. The Listserv Network might be considered the “Readers Digest” for listservs. Members are currently forwarding the most important information from 20 food and nutrition related listservs to the CPDA Listserv.The January 1999 CPDA board meeting was held live “on-line”. With the assistance of Dietetics Online, the board members enjoyed the board meeting from the comfort of their home or work instead of having to drive to Penn State or Harrisburg. This was a real learning experience for the board members (and the secretary learned how to take cyber minutes!). Practice sessions were held prior to the actual board meeting to help members feel comfortable with an on-line chat session. The meeting was the same length as “live” meetings. This type of meeting allows members in remote areas to be active on the board while decreasing the mileage expense of board members to attend meetings.Email has been used to send meeting agendas, minutes, and for board members to communicate information. It has saved the district money (copying, stationary, postage, phone) and the officers and members have saved valuable time. Email was even used by the voting board members to deal with an urgent issue that needed to be discussed between meetings.CPDA is geographically challenged. We encompass 24 of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The district stretches from the New York to Maryland state line. Continued computer use will allow more members to actively participate in the association.