bugsy is back

Dear bloggers

What a hectic weekend in the microbiology laboratory. Now I can finally concentrate on my e-learning project. E-learning is great, but today Louis, Hillary, Adelle and I are meeting in person to talk (chat is a better word) about our projects and to share ideas.

When I worked this weekend I realized again how important safety in the laboratory is. We worked with a Neisseria meningitits strain and if you are not careful and work according to safety protocols you can contract meningococcal disease in the laboratory. This made me think that I should try and upload a short cell phone video on my blog demonstrating a practical aspect of safety. I am not sure how easy it is to do though.... for a novice like me. Maybe JP can comment.

bugsy and the real bugs

Dear bloggers

I am on call this week and weekend and the real bugs have kept me so busy that I have neglected my blog. I am also cut off from the rest, because I cannot get onto the central blog to comment on your blogs.

My bleep is going off, so I make haste and bid you good-bye.

MPhil class mates

I forgot to mention that I saw 2 of our fellow class mates today. I saw Hillary from an opposite window while I was waiting to give a lecture in the Fisan building and I saw Adelle on purpose. We sometimes get together to talk about our assignments and for much needed moral support.
It is wonderful to experience the diversity of these e-learning projects.

bugsy is all about safety

Hi bloggers

I applied for a sunblog and there it is in my mailbox this morning. "Teamsafey" is born. How to go from here, I am not to sure. I also have not yet decided how I will fully use the blog for teaching and training yet. I have already recieved some useful suggestions from my fellow- bloggers. I know that the blog is strickly about our MPhil assignment, but I cannot resist to put it out there: we are buying a new house! There surely must be a blog that tells about experiences with buying a house and all the stress associated with this....and the things to look out for when making such a life-changing move. For now, bugsy must move......the laboratory awaits with all the bugs that you can imagine.

2nd arm of bugsy's project in on its way

Dear bloggers

With the help of JP, I have now applied to the US for a sun.blog. My blog will be part of my project to teach, train, inform and sometimes intertane our laboratory staff about laboratory safety. I asked our technologists if they could think of a name for our Safety blog, but in the spirit of the Tour de France I am going to call the blog: "Team Safety". I await now for the response from Webstudies.

Busy with the "I" in ADDIE

Dear bloggers

I have a confession to make. It has been 3 days since my last blog. I know that, according the the ADDIE model, the one step must follow on the other step. But in practise I have found that I am constantly busy with all the steps at more or less the same time. Someone from the University Admin is going to help me install the software for the Outlook SMS service. JP did mention on the central blog that we can be lucky that we do have the support to help us with our "projects". My next step will also be to start a Safety blog for our laboratory, but I will have to find out 1st if our laboratory staff will have access to such a blog in our lab. Back the the drawingboard or "storyboard" as referred to when talking about the "design" part of the ADDIE model.

Back in the blogging mode

Dear bloggers

I have not blogged for 3 days. 2 Days were due to a terrible migraine (?computer and internet related) and yesterday I tried to upload an image, but without results. I am, however, progressing with my project. The US admin could set me up with the Outlook SMS system and I have the budget to use it. I had some difficulty uploading the software and will try again on Monday. I have heard from Louis Heyns that the other module on professional development is interesting, but in the same format of our previous modules. The e-learning module, on the other hand, is completely different and I am having fun. Blogging is contagious, because I showed JP's screen cast to two other people at work and they are blogging too. (All work related bloggs!)

I am now loading up an image. Can you guess who the girl is?

"A" away

Dear bloggers
I have organized with the university for me to be able to send SMS via the web. My head of department also approved it. It costs R70 per month for the software and 35c for each SMS send. I will now compile the list of all our lab staff and then I can review the current teaching material available in the lab about safety. I have done a quick survey and I have come to the conclusion that most of our lab staff will be reached most effectively by SMS. The next step in the "A" would be to consider a Safety blog as extra means of communication.

Dear JP
I enjoyed the short instruction on how to blog and I will start to upload some images. The short screen cast was very clear. It is a great instructional tool. I find myself very excited learning this technology!!

My project has 2 elements

Dear fellow bloggers
I have decided that my "SMS" Safety training programme will also have a blog component. I want to create a safety reporting/informing blog for our laboratory. Staff members can use the blog to report possible safety hazards of their own experience of safety in the work place and to comment on the safety tip they received via SMS. Hopefully this will make safety more "fun" and get staff members talking about safety. My next step will be to find out if I can use a word programme to circulate SMS to our staff.
I guess what I am currently busy with is the "A" in ADDIE.

A project at last

Dear bloggers
We have just had a Microbiology division meeting in our department and safety was discussed again. I am the head of our laboratory safety committee and I was thinking how we can communicate safety better and in a more interactive way to our staff. Laboratory safety can be a very boring topic at best! At the moment we just e-mail the minutes of our meetings to the staff. I am exploring the possiblity of a Safety SMS "tip of the week" training and informing service. Any opinions on this?
The red head blogger, named bugsy

Still without a project

Formulating a training program with e-learning is hard! I had many ideas over the weekend, but wondered if I should not focus on laboratory safety. Either a Webct quiz or safety tips via SMS. I can do something on parasitology, but there are already so much on the Web. I want to do something original and practical.

bugsy goes exploring

Bugsy went exploring on the internet today to find out what is being done in the field of Medical Microbiology with e-learning. Bugsy was overwhelmed. There are e-learning programmes for many of the topics in Microbiology. The American Society for Microbiology has a site called, "solve these microbe mysteries". There are parasite quizes on-line, e-learning courses on antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic stewardship. There is even a game for teaching antimicrobial mechanisms of action. For our critical care nurses: many e-Learning programmes for infection control. Bugsy will have to use her little beetle brain to figure out what she can do for her e-project. But like JP said, the art will be to keep is simple.

Back from the dead

Hello everybody

This is my 1st attempt at my blog. Yesterday I gave a formal lecture in one of our big lecture halls to 2nd yr medical students. I suddenly had the desire to change the lecture to e-learning. These formal lectures are not very interactive and I think that e-learning can be more interactive, even if you do not see the students.

I have got some idea of my project, maybe something to teach microbiology registrars about parasitology. Parasitology is a very visual field, you can just image all the pictures of parasite eggs!

Since I fell so behind with by blogging I started to read one of our prescribed articles, entitled "Good teaching is good teaching: An emerging set of guiding principles and practices for design and development of distance education." One controversial line in the conclusion was that "time, location, and pace of study are becoming less important as indicators of quality instruction" and gave me something to think about.

bugsy: bloggers hell

bugsy: bloggers hell: "Finally, Rena and Adelle, have arrived! We obviously need this module to learn the basics of blogging and e-learning. It took us one day,..."

bloggers hell

Finally, Rena and Adelle, have arrived!

We obviously need this module to learn the basics of blogging and e-learning. It took us one day, together, to get this far. It can only get better! Neither of us have got a faint idea of what we want to do for our assignments. Adelle and I though that ADDI was anoter MPhil student's nickname, and then we remembered the video clip that JP played to us during the contact week.
:-(