Friday, November 18, 2011

JISC Digital Media: The Little Guides

JISC Digital Media met korte handleidingen over:

* Finding digital media resources
* Copyright
* Cloud computing
* Podcasting en
* Screencasting

7 things: MOOCs

Educause met zijn inmiddels befaamde serie "7 Things You Should Know About ...", waarin deze keer aandacht voor een Massively Open Online Course (MOOC).

"A massively open online course (MOOC) is a model for delivering learning content online to virtually any person—and as many of them—who wants to take the course. Course activities can be scheduled or asynchronous, and a fluid structure is valuable because students can choose their level of participation and many will do so in an à la carte manner. A MOOC throws open the doors of a course and invites anyone to enter, resulting in a new learning dynamic. Although this dynamic will make some students uneasy and will force instructors to rethink at least some of the elements of their courses, the MOOC can potentially alter the relationship between learner and instructor and between academe and the wider community. As MOOCs evolve, expectations and methods of presentation will likely crystallize, becoming more consistent and more predictable. Those enrolling in a MOOC are likely to discover learning at its most open on a platform that invites the world not only to see and hear but also to participate and collaborate."

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Video games in health care

Pamela M. Kato in Review of General Psychology met "Video games in health care: Closing the gap" over het gebruik van games in de gezondheidszorg.

"Although a great deal of media attention has been given to the negative effects of playing video games, relatively less attention has been paid to the positive effects of engaging in this activity. Video games in health care provide ample examples of innovative ways to use existing commercial games for health improvement or surgical training. Tailor-made games help patients be more adherent to treatment regimens and train doctors how to manage patients in different clinical situations. In this review, examples in the scientific literature of commercially available and tailor-made games used for education and training with patients and medical students and doctors are summarized. There is a history of using video games with patients from the early days of gaming in the 1980s, and this has evolved into a focus on making tailor-made games for different disease groups, which have been evaluated in scientific trials more recently. Commercial video games have been of interest regarding their impact on surgical skill. More recently, some basic computer games have been developed and evaluated that train doctors in clinical skills. The studies presented in this article represent a body of work outlining positive effects of playing video games in the area of health care".