Using WIKI Workspaces to Teach Community Health Nursing

Sandra S. McNeely, MSN, RN, CNETitle V Distance Learning Symposium

September 14, 2012

Community Health Nursing

• Focuses on community-based nursing and population focused health.

• Community assessment group project:– Overview of local, state & national data– Windshield survey of community– Interview community members & leaders– Photographs, charts, graphs– Synthesize findings into health intervention plan

Course Objective #5

Demonstrate effective interpersonal communication and collaboration with other

health care professionals.

Why WIKI Workspaces?

• Students:– Collaborate online.– Share documents and photographs.– Set schedules and make assignments.– Organize the project into pages.

• Faculty members:– Have access to student projects for team grading.– Track student progress and offer guidance.– Objectively assess student contributions.– Save in PDF for records, accreditation reviews, etc.

Student Exemplar

Links to project

sections & criteria

Student ExemplarTimeline developed by

group for project completion

Links to

surveys &

raw data Student Exemplar

Outcome

• Students had never heard of WIKI Spaces.• They complained about having to learn new

technology.• They were frustrated, even with tech support.• The WIKI did not necessarily reflect perceived

student time and work.

Recommendations

• Awareness of student skills– Not all students are tech savvy

• Class use of WIKI Spaces– Developing a space in class may facilitate F2F

instruction & role model use for students

• Alternate forms of WIKI Spaces– Zoho.com/projects– Wikispaces.com