A Personal Review

Computers in Nursing & Midwifery Education -

The Vision
The First National Conference of the CTI Logo
 CTI Nursing & Midwifery

27th & 28th June 1996

Robinson College, Cambridge UK

Introduction

This was an interesting and thought provoking conference. Although the CTI initiative is fairly new in Nursing and Midwifery, it is established in other disciplines. Developments in education and health care have highlighted informatics issues in nursing & health care, and some potential ways forward are being identified.

Although this was the first conference convened by the CTI LogoCTI Nursing & Midwifery, the papers and debate were varied and interesting, the accommodation comfortable, and the company excellent.

When I first arrived at the conference I had a prepared poster presentation, but did not expect to be giving a paper. The useful box of floppies in my briefcase provided the basis for a representation in my paper, of my site "Nursing & Health Care Resources on the Net" - http://www.shef.ac.uk/~nhcon

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Speakers Papers

SESSION 1.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ISSUES FOR ATTENTION NOW AND IN THE FUTURE.

[CTI LOGO]Welcome & Chair -Paula Procter, Director, CTI Centre for Nursing & Midwifery.

Paula set out the successes and future aims of the CTI N&M and outlined the purpose & format for the conference.

The Teaching and Learning Technology Programme - What Have We Learned And Where Do We Go From Here? - Sarah Turpin, TLTP National Co-ordinator

Sarah described the purpose and progress of the national TLTP project, and described some of the lessons learned. Her major emphasis was on the importance of Efficiency Gains and Improved Quality, with further emphasis on the dissemination of projects and user involvement.

Further Information from: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/tltp

Sarah's Email: s.turpin@hefce.ac.uk

The New Age of Communication: We Have Sound We Have Vision, But Do We Have Communication? - Catherine Reynolds, St Bartholomew's School of Nursing, City University, London.

Catherine discussed the potential use of Video Conferencing for Nursing & Midwifery. She set out the need for the technology along with costs & benefits and user reaction.

Information Proficiency in Clinical Practice and Service Management - an integration Challenge for Education. - Chris Pearson, Programme Manager, Education and Training Programme in IM&T for Clinicians, NHS Training Division.

Chris used his extensive experience with the NHSTD & IMG projects and now the IHCD to set out how far IM&T education in the curriculum for clinical professions has come.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Needs to Support Nursing Education - Evelyn Hovenga, Faculty of Health Science, Central Queensland University, Australia.

Evelyn painted a picture of how I.T. was being used to enhance teaching and learning in her department in Australia & it made UK delegates envious. The advantages for (long) distance learning have been clearly demonstrated in her university.

Evelyn's Email: e.hovenga@cqu.edu.au

Further details from: http://www.cqu.edu.au

SESSION 2

USING THE TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT TEACHING AND LEARNING

Chair - Bill Hubbard, Multimedia Advisor, The University of Sheffield

Health Informatics LogoDistance Learning and Electronic Delivery - Myths, Magic and Reality - Chris Dowd Distance Learning Centre, South Bank University, London, Editor-in-Chief, Health Informatics

Chris placed electronic delivery in the wider context of distance learning. A particular highlight was the discussion of acceptable publishing - He never did show us the full list of 7 proscribed "dirty words".

Chris's Email: chris@heather.demon.co.uk

Using Computer Technology in Support of Teaching and Learning - Bill Hubbard

Bill covered this session as Jane Williams and Sue Furber (Educational technology Service & CTI Centre for Medicine, University of Bristol were unable to attend. It included a clear history from programmed learning and electronic books to the present day. This showed how far and how fast the use of I.T. in education has come.

Bill's Email: b.hubbard@sheffield.ac.uk

Do Web-Surfers Dream of Electronic Gophers? - Peter Murray, School of Health & Social Welfare, The Open University.

This esoteric title was based on a quote, "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" from Philip K. Dick. This led into a paper applying some of the ideas discussed in Landow's book on hypertext and critical theory to the World Wide Web. Using a Derridean and post-structuralist perspective, to suggest that the use of the Web presents many challenges and opportunities for nurse education, research and thus practice.

Peter's Email: p.j.murray@open.ac.uk

Session 4.

EXAMPLES OF SOLUTIONS FOR REAL SITUATIONS


Chair: Jonathon Darby, Head, CTI Support Services, Oxford University


ProCareNo Tech or Low Tech?: Arguments for 'Barefoot' Technology in Computer-Assisted Learning. - Tom Hopkins, Project Consultant, TLTP ProCare, Bournemouth University.

Tom described the development and use of several pieces of courseware which this TLTP project has produced:

Email: ProCare@chst.soton.ac.uk


NSG LogoFormatting a Backup Strategy. - Elaine Ballard, Nursing Specialist Group Co-ordinator, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton.

Elaine covered a lot of ground in her paper related to the use of I.T. into schools of nursing, and the role of national groups in influencing implementation. The clinical and educational context was covered contributing to a target of pre-registration students becoming efficient users and post-basic students developing proficiency.

Elaine's Email: e.c.ballard@wlv.ac.uk


Unweaving the Web - Carol Cooper, Computer Officer, School of Nursing Studies, Manchester University.

Carol described some of the hurdles and successes, she encountered in the preparation of web pages for the Faculty. Including gaining access and web space, writing html and battling with UNIX.

Carol's Email: carol.cooper@man.ac.uk

Web Page: http://www.man.ac.uk/~mdplscc/carol_cooper.html

The Anatomy of a Web Site - Rod Ward, Nurse teacher, Faculty of Health & Social Care, University of the West of England.

This presentation, which was put together at short notice, enabled me to illustrate some of my points about issues related to web page use with examples from my own experience. The preparation of professional pages which comply with Janet guidelines, the use of graphics, copyright, selection of links, and site maintenance were all touched on.

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Demonstrations & Poster Presentations

There were a wide range of Demonstrations and Poster presentations. These included;

Concourse - a "front end" for distance learning materials - Noel Taylor, University of Hertfordshire

Email: r.n.taylor@herts.ac.uk

ENB logoThe ENB - Contact Paul Mangan Email: administrator@enb.org.uk

NHS Executive IMG - Information for nurses, midwives, health visitors and managers.

Nursing & Health Care Resources on the Net - The Anatomy of a Web Site - Rod Ward,

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Exhibitors

These included;

Akhter Personal Computing, Health Care Division, Akhter House, Perry Road, Harlow Essex CM18 7PN Tel: 01279 443521 Fax: 01279 442623 (Exhibiting PC's)

Avant Garde - Presentation Consultants, 2A Broadoak, Ashburton Rd West, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1RW Tel: 0161 873 7447 Fax: 0161 873 8013 (Exhibiting Mulitmedia LCD Projection)

Churchill Livingstone, Robert Stevenson House, 1-3 Baxters Place, Leith Walk, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 3AF Tel: 0131 556 2424 Fax: 0131 5581278 (Exhibiting Altrum CDi System & Books

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Travel

The conference was sensibly timed not to start until late morning on the first day, and I set out with plenty of time. A tube strike meant that it took 2 hours to get from Paddington to King's Cross for the journey to Cambridge, and I only just arrived in time. A short taxi ride from the station easily found Robinson College.

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Accommodation & Social Activities

The main auditorium easily held the main conference papers. Excellent lighting and audio visual facilities were available and fully exploited by speakers. N.B. It would have been nice to have had on-line access.

Exhibitors, demonstrations & poster presentations were held in nearby rooms, in which coffee was freely available. The cafeteria catering was good and the dinner reached a high standard. Dinner was followed by demonstrations of Juggling (yours truly) and Karate (Bill Melisse - Sheffield). During all the breaks, meals & visits to the bar lively and stimulating conversation about a very wide spectrum of topics related to informatics & nursing education took place. N.B. the long breaks provided to visit exhibitors etc. would have been needed if there had been more delegates.

The study bedrooms provided were well appointed and comfortable, and the college staff helpful at all times.

The conference was very well organised by Paula Procter and Gail Hible from the [CTI LOGO]CTI Nursing & Midwifery

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Please mail any commnets or contributions to me at: Rod@RodSpace.co.uk


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Page last updated: 30.8.03