Mapping Research

        Public health educators have different theories and models that explain how an individual changes certain behaviors to become healthy.  Many of these theories and models have certain constructs that help understand the reasoning behind why they change or not.  Although external factors tend to play a small role in the overall scheme of “being healthy”, it certainly effects numerous people in changing a bad behavior.  One of the biggest external factors that public health as a whole faces, is the environment.  If the environment is not suitable then the risk of chronic illness increases and healthy behaviors decrease.  Recently, Mapping or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used within the field of public health to determine how to change the environment so the population can indeed change their behaviors.

             The first article recognizes that the environment does in fact support healthy behaviors, but focuses more on the exposure to contaminants, duration of exposure time, and hazards.  The researchers use The Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (EPHTN) to follow the variables listed above in certain communities.  This mapping program allows the researchers to make correlations between health illnesses and geographic locations of the environment by plotting points on a map using secondary data.  From these points the authors could determine any correlations between health behaviors and the environment.  According to Mather et al. (2004) using such mapping programs like GIS has provided researchers a method to link variables within the environment, but they still need additional efforts to confirm the links. 

            The second article also realized that the environment plays a key factor, but focused more on socio-economic status and the safety of the neighborhood for physical activity.  The researchers used GIS to determine community boundaries, schools, public recreation facilities, and numerous other factors that may affect healthy behaviors.  Like many problems, socio-economic status can link to numerous problems besides a poor health, but according to Wilson, Kirtland, Ainsworth, and Addy (2004) GIS determined that lower socio-economic environments do in fact reduce the chances of a person having access to facilities and user friendly communities.  This study can help future researchers in public health fixed communities and make them more accessible to its members. 

            The last article actually is different because the authors compare two different built environments, GIS and Senior Walking Environmental Tool (SWEAT) to set the parameters of the communities.   The interesting part in this article was the variables needed to sustain an environment where community members would actually use it.  Some variables include pleasantness, safety/comfort, accessibility, and maintenance.  All of those affect the usage and ultimately the health of the community.  The built environments of both GIS and SWEAT still had healthy effects on the community.  “This study supports prior research that identified built environment correlates of walking for exercise or transportation and adds to the body of research by proposing a method of creating conceptually meaningful measures of neighborhood walkability from objective, micro scale data” (Keast, Carlson, Chapman, & Michael, 2010).  In other words using a mapping application for walkability of a built environment are effective measures to use when creating such environment. 

            Based off of the three articles there are numerous uses for GIS within the classroom.  First off, an instructor could create real-life assignments where students use GIS in mapping out a community and relationship it has to health.  It could be broken up into 2 parts, where the first part allows the student to see any external factors that may complicate usage (traffic accidents, deaths, sewage plant, sidewalks etc.).  The second part could be to use the analysis and build the environment for a community.  Not only is this public health, but it’s a service project as well.  Other uses for mapping could be finding increased pockets of infectious diseases.  The students would get a data set and run maps to see area that may have been infected with disease (HIV/AIDS, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Diabetes).  They then could use this data and create a program that could reduce the prevalence of specific diseases.  Lastly, students could map out the number of healthcare options within a community and determine provider balance within a community.  This could also help students understand the population of non/under-insured people within the community.  Those are just a few examples of how GIS could help students within a public health course.  I actually had the chance to use this software in my MPH and found it very interesting how applicable it is to real-life situations. 

            GIS is still new to the public health field and as it grows, it will be used more frequently and with better results for uses.  Until then it still helps out in numerous ways that weren’t possible before. 

References

Keast, E. M., Carlson, N. E., Chapman, N. J., & Michael, Y. L. (2010). Using built environmental observation tools: Comparing two methods of creating a measure of the builty environment. Journal of Health Promotion, 24(5), 354-361.

Mather, F. J., White, L. E., Langlois, E. C., Shorter, C. F., Swalm, C. M., Shaffer, J. G., & Hartley, W. R. (2004). Statistical methods for linking health, exposure, and hazards. Environmental Health Perspectives , 112(14), 1440-1445.

Wilson, D. K., Kirtland, K. A., Ainsworth, B. E., & Addy, C. L. (2004). Socioeconomic status and perceptions of access and safety for physcial activity. The Society of Behavioral Medicine, 28(1), 20-28.

Social Cognitive Theory

         Albert Bandura is wildly known for his contributions to the health field.  He created the Social Learning Theory (SLT) or what is known today as the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT).  The only real difference between the SLT and SCT is an added construct of self-efficacy, which will be noted in the following paragraphs.  Not only is this theory good for determining how people obtain and preserve certain behaviors, it also provides the researcher with intervention strategies.  As a health educator we use this theory on a regular basis to change behaviors, but it can be applied to any area of expertise as long as there is a desired behavior involved.

The Social Cognitive Theory is very simple in that a person’s desired behavior is affected by 3 concepts that are intertwined.  Unfortunately, there are 11 constructs of this theory that many of us confuse very easily.  To keep it simple enough to understand, this overview will touch on the three concepts and give an overview of the constructs. The theory explains that your personal and environmental factors affect your behaviors (good or bad).  Think of a triangle with one of those three concepts at each corner with arrows pointing in each direction.  As you move along the arrows, notice how each one affects the other.  “Behavior is not simply the result of the environment and the person, just as the environment is not simply the result of the person and behavior” (Glanz et al, 2002).  The fluidness of this theory is what gives it the backbone to change or maintain a desired behavior.  The 11 constructs within this theory can be interesting to learn, which enhance the underlying concepts of the theory.  To help you understand the construct with ease, there has been a brief overview added with each construct within the current objective of this assignment. 

So the objective is to apply the Social Cognitive Theory to instruction that incorporates Internet-based applications.  The desired behavior the theory will address is Internet-based instruction, more specifically using social media.  Remember that behavior affects environment and personal factors, so if the instructor is limited in any of those three then the behavior will not happen.  Behavioral capability is by far the most important construct because if the person does not understand the objective and have the necessary skills to perform a behavior then it will go nowhere.  If an instructor possesses no knowledge about social media then it will be expected that no use of it would occur within the classroom.  So the first obstacle is allowing the instructor to understand the materials taught.  When this occurs it then can be directed towards students within the classroom.  Expectations and Expectancies can be grouped together because the individual must value the importance (expectancies) of using social media within the classroom and have strong beliefs (expectations) that it will be effective.  The instructor gains this by having the knowledge.  Therefore applying social media to the classroom is more applicable and students value the expected outcome.

Locus of control and Self-Efficacy can also be lumped together because these two constructs deal with feeling control and how comfortable doing an action may be.  If the instructor feels comfortable in the material and can confidently use it, then it can be ascertained that it will be used within the classroom.  Reciprocal Determinism, Emotional-coping response, and Observational learning can all be lumped into one because they all deal with the interactions with the behavior change.  Observational learning is easy as the old saying monkey see, monkey do.  If the instructor watches other people using social medias within the classroom and notice its effectiveness then there is a higher chance the instructor will use that same method in their own classroom.  Reciprocal determinism is the interaction between the individual and their environment.  If the instructor doesn’t have the right equipment provided by the school to engage social media within the classroom, then there is disconnect in the ability to use it within the classroom.  Lastly, the Emotional-coping response deals with any emotions that may occur by learning the behavior.  An instructor might feel anxious because it might not work will not learn how to use it properly.  They must overcome that fear before they can learn.  The other constructs of this model are not applicable, but still have a place within the SCT.

For an instructor to use the SCT within the classroom they can transform their space into a social media center.  The instructor can provide activities that engage learning with social media.  An example could be a classroom Prezi page that students can collaborate with other students on specific topics that might interest them.  The instructor must reinforce any good behaviors within that classroom to ensure that students are working on task.  An example could be rewarding them with bonus points or a healthy snack for staying on task the entire class period.  The instructor must also support students as they understand the materials provided.  An example could be as students become comfortable with understanding and knowing the materials they could be the teacher and present their topics to the class using the Prezi website.  Each student could then follow along with the presentation. 

These are only a few examples on how to use the SCT within the classroom and since there are numerous constructs within the theory it seems like the possibilities are endless. As long as there is a willing teacher to try it, then there is a learning opportunity for students. 

Reference:
K.Glanz, B. Rimer, & F.M. Lewis (2002). Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice 3^rd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.                        

Social Media

I joined a “Mobile Health” group on Diigo because of 2 reasons.  One, it actually sounded very interesting after I did some extra research about mobile health and what it really is.  Two, I figured I could use this group as a portal to find grant funding for a project that I want to research on campus. 

There is a big appeal for both young and old to use social networks.  It can open up numerous opportunities to find a partner, a new job, or even a group about using technology to increase the health and wellness of the population.  Online networking is taking over the internet and it pros outweigh the cons

Within a classroom there are always going to be positive and negative effects.  Some positives for the students could be engaged learning, collaborations with other students, increased technology skills and communication skills (since many already use networking sites).  For the teachers there are collaborations with other teachers, information exchange, access to resources, and parental involvement. Some downsides would be too many people to look over, time consuming, scams, bullying, challenging and profiles are out there.   

There would be 2 different sites that I would have to say that I spend most of my time networking.  The first is obviously Facebook because many of my family, friends, and previous professors are on there and it is an easy way to contact them for updates.  My second website would have to be LinkedIn.  Within this site I have joined numerous Public Health related groups that keep me updated to new topics as well as any potential job openings.  I think Facebook is more for a personal use, while LinkedIn is more professional in nature.   

Some of the benefits to using these sites are as follows:  a future job within Public Health or a University, hearing about new research, roundtable discussions online, and keeping in touch with people in my field.  Some drawbacks certainly are privacy problems, employers seeing profiles, missing a target market (my resume only goes to certain key words), and information being farmed out.

In any sense social networking sites have taken off and certainly have integrated themselves into society.

Gaming

I was excited to start “Gaming, Simulations, AR” this week because I already agree that gaming is the way to go.

The first website that I checked out was the Stop Disasters game.  Automatically, I started thinking about how this game could be used for public health trainings in a real situation and within the classroom for students. The basis of the game is to stop disasters from occurring or prohibit them from doing more damage.  As a public health educator, there are certain disasters that we have to be prepared for, such as earthquakes, floods, blizzards, nuclear war, and tornadoes.  Within the degree for public/community health, the student should learn about ICS (Incident Command System).  The ICS allows communities to follow a chain of command to ensure that a natural hazard doesn’t become an epidemic disaster.  According to the Horizon Report, simulation games like Stop Disasters give students challenges to invent and implement creative solutions to pressing social issues (2011, pg. 19).  Students/Trainees have the ability to run through these simulations and learn from their mistakes if they fail, without endangering the lives of many.  Did you know that the NIH (National Institute of Health) started creating an ICS plan for a zombie attack?  I laughed when I read about it too, but it’s not a fallacy, they really do.  Either way the game is a perfect training tool for educators and communities alike.  Not only will this help with hands on experience with specific disasters, it can also be a huge live saver if you know what to do in a situation. 

The second website I looked at was the Teen Second-Life, but overall Second-Life in general.  I have heard about this before in a magazine somewhere, but didn’t even think about it until I clicked on the website.  This is the craziest thing I have ever laid eyes on and exploring the website only makes it more intriguing, yet creepy at the same time.  The idea of having an avatar that can do all the things that you can’t do in real life is a little weird to me.  Second-Life is perfect for educational purposes because you can set up classrooms as if you were already there.  Since it’s my belief that classrooms will be moving to all online one day, this would be perfect to do a distance learning class.  After some research, I found that some colleges like MIT and Notre Dame already do this and it is very cost effective.  It actually makes it easier to communicate with a professor who is theoretically in front of you, instead via e-mail and discussion boards.  According to Strangman & Hall “there is significant evidence that virtual reality experiences can offer an advantage over more traditional instructional experiences at least within certain contexts” (2003).  This means that students who engage in the virtual reality are better within specific areas being learned.  I can see this becoming bigger in the future and think that this will be the way to work on your degree.  Now, call me old fashioned, but why would you want to sit in front of a computer for an hour pretending to be in a classroom?  Wouldn’t you want to “be” in the classroom physically?  Those are just my thoughts and a limitation to the whole Second-Life thing. 

The last website I chose was the Dump Town game.  Again, my mind went right to how this can be incorporated into a classroom, but more specifically a public health focused topic such as recycling.  Here you are the manager of Dump Town and are in desperate need to clean it up.  The simulation follows the student through an array of actions that need to be done to reach the ultimate goal of turning Dump Town into Clean Town.  It is very amazing to see what goes into cleaning up a town and how much it costs to do it.  I feel that using this simulation, students also gain valuable knowledge in understand why some problems surrounding recycling may be difficult to change quickly.  I would certainly give this out as an out of class assignment for my future students. 

I really enjoyed doing this module because in my personal life, gaming certainly has a little place in my heart.  I just wished they had this stuff when I was a kid, because I would have paid attention more in class if I knew we were creating games for the day.

References

Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Haywood, K., (2011). The NMC Horizon Report:

2011 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Strangman, N., & Hall, T. (2003). Virtual reality/simulations. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved [2/7/2012] from http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/virtual_simulations

Synthesis

After reading all the articles and browsing through the websites this week, I feel as if there is a better understanding for open content, creative commons, and electronic books.  Although these tools of the internet are spreading like a virus to millions of people around the world, there are still positives and challenges in applying them to teaching and learning. 

            Open content has brought a new age of how information is disseminated to the learner.  They allow for customizable documents to be shared within classrooms, which ultimately increase the adaptability of a classroom.  All of this comes to the user for free, which significantly increases the chances of usage.  Open content also allows the students to find new works, evaluate the information provided in front of them, and put this information to use (Johnson, Adams, & Haywood, 2011, pg. 23).  This allows a new form of learning for the students and engages them in different learning styles.  Although the teacher should create lesson plans, it also helps them in reducing their own workloads within the classroom.  All of the materials for a lecture can be downloaded and modified for any lecture.  It is very surprising that the open content also gives credit where credit is due, which in any academic institution hold many accountable for their work.  It is amazing how companies such as Creative Commons have increased this awareness for open content using specific licensing options.  After looking at their website, I was very shocked to see the number of companies that participate in open content.  Since health is my background, I was amazed that GlaxoSmithKline surrendered a malaria data set.  This allows for other users (primarily people who love stats) to work with this information and create a publication from it, allowing more people to see research at its best.  Open content and the technology surrounding it will be important for our future as educators wherever we end up. 

            Electronic books are also very important as we continue to digitally enhance everyday living.  With the invention of the Kindle, Google E-reader, Apple iPad, and many other electronic devices, it literally has changed the way we read books.  “Publishers are beginning to explore richly visual interfaces that include multimedia and collaborative elements” (Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine, & Haywood, 2011, pg. 8).  This allows the reader to interact with what is being read in the e-book.  Instead of blankly reading Shakespeare, the reader can now engage interactively with others in understanding a lost genre of literature.  Electronic books also help with the amount that can be carried.  Since the electronic books can store hundreds of books on one tablet, it reduces potential health risks that might occur due to carrying a heavy load of books.  They also allow the use to stop in the middle of a page at the computer and pick up again from a mobile device, as long as it has internet access ("Google ebooks: Overview ," ).  With such an advanced piece of technology at our disposals, it can only make our lives easier in the classroom as well as our personal lives. 

Even though open content is starting to gain notoriety across the world, there are still some challenges that must not be overlooked.  Academia thrives on publications and many of the journals that professors and students submit to have a strict peer reviewed process.  Unfortunately, open content lacks within this area and within the scientific community and many don’t recognize it as quality information.  Additionally open content needs more research and work on the models for citation of any new content that is published (Johnson, et al, 2011, pg. 23).  Again looking at the academic world how does one cite from an open content writing and is it valid and reliable.  Another problem that may hinder the expansion of open content is the amount of materials that are available.  After perusing through some of the websites, I noticed that one site had limited options available to the user, while another had a variety of options.  There is not consistency when looking for information on the websites.  I also noticed that many of the publications were from an earlier date (in the health field) and not very recent in nature.  This can cause a problem, if users are trying for up-to-date information.  Even after all of these challenges, it can be safe to say that open content will be a dominant force in education within the next ten years. 

Electronic books also have their problems because there still isn’t enough research out on them yet.  Since E-books rely on a power source, many of these readers need to be charged and can pose problems if they aren’t connected.  There haven’t been clear studies that show the long term effects of using an E-reader.  Eventually something new will come out and it has the potential to become obsolete, like its predecessor paperbacks.  With so many unanswered questions, there has to be a caution for its usage until they can be determined as a low hazard risk.  E-books are still going to be around as long as people are going to use them, so even though there are unanswered questions, it will take some time to figure it out. 

 References

Google ebooks: Overview . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/help/ebooks/overview.html

Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Haywood, K., (2011). The NMC Horizon Report:

2011 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

In the Clouds

Health


The first site that I chose to was Remix Learning.  This website looked particularly interesting to me because you can take the cloud computing and customize it for certain educational purposes that are interactive for both the student and teacher.   It is a social learning network that can allow computers to link up in class, but also have it for out of class assignments as well.  It could also fit easily in a K-12 or collegiate setting.  This website certainly brings education into a new ear with how materials are delivered to the students. 

My second website that I chose to keep was Justbeamit.  It is very simple in context and in design.  This website allows the users to send files across the internet via links.  One user loads the materials to be sent then shares this with others, the other users then hit the link that was shared and instantly have the materials that were loaded by the original user.  I think this could help both students and professionals in the future.  I thought of 2 examples on how this could be handy. 
     Example 1- If students collaborate on a Wiki they could beam certain documents to them with a link.  They now have access to any forms or documents that couldn't neccesarily be uploaded in the Wiki.
     Example 2-  A student forgets to bring the document to class and quickly calls a sibling or parent (who is tech savvy) and has them beam the presentation or files instantly through the link.  Now the student has the document to hand in or present. 

My third website that I chose was the Muchenough.  I really liked this website because I could potentially use this for educational and money purposes.  This site allows users who have "expertise" in certain areas to record themselves via webcam and teach lessons on a variety of topics.  The kicker comes from the ability to make money off of this.  Some lessons were in excess of $50 for an hour (minus fees of course).  I could easily record myself in the classroom and throw it on that website for some side cash in the future.  As for education, if these "lectures" could be expanded upon with teachers and professionals in the field they can easily help people master technical skills, gain new knowledge, or maybe get help learning an istrument for music class.  Plus those people get paid to teach.  Since I feel that many of the classrooms will be going to online versions in the future it can be an easy way to expand the knowlegde base of the students. 

My investigations this week has lead me to believe that there are a few ways that all of the cloud computing can affect teaching and learning.  First off, the use of tags or tag clouds can enhance the lectures that are being given to the students.  If a teacher asks the students a question related to the male reproductive system, those tags can make it easier and quicker for students to find the information and report back (assuming there are computers in the room).  The downside to this is, not all the information that was tagged is reliable and not all the tags go to the specific topics that might be looked at, i.e. "male" "repoductive" "system" tags might give you stereo systems, male gorillas, and reproductive organs of a worm.  This is not effective in finding exactly what the task at hand was.  I also think that the social bookmarking is very effective in keeping materials that were looked up.  My thoughts purely go for the research aspect of both my students and myself.  I already thought about keeping any articles that I might find via pdf and keep it on my Diigo account for future reference.  Being able to organize and label my articles can significantly help me out with my research for papers.  My students could benefit from this as well because you never have to worry about the website being lost since it automatically stores the information.  I feel that using these tools effectively within the classroom can help both the student and instructor. 

Although I am hesitant sometimes about these newer technologies this class has already opened my eyes to different techniques in bringing them to my own classroom. 

Blogging & Twittering

After reading the articles and watching the videos for this week, I feel that I have learned quite a bit about blogging and twittering.  I never realized that people with expertise or passions about a topic could create such a network with a common interest.  This was very difficult to do 20 years ago and has opened my mind about both.

Blogging was never really important to me and I remember when it the scene because many of my friends had started their own.  It almost seemed like the "hipster" thing to do if you wanted people to know about your private life.  After this lesson, my mind has changed slightly about the value of blogs and it's purely for educational purposes.  It certainly allows students to collaborate on a class project where you don't have to be in "class" because they could follow other bloggers with similiar interests to gain more knowledge.  I feel like this has and will continue to change how we integrate online mediums into the classroom. 

Twitter completely took me by surprise and I have to say that I was REALLY shocked that I had to start an account for the class.  Social medias like Facebook already consume my time and I didn't want to add another one.  After watching the videos about Twitter and how certain "trends" can be used as an advantage, it made me think a little bit about my profession of public health and how breaking news could be transmitted with 140 characters.  As for educational purposes, Twitter certainly can help people out if you post a question that may be stumping you.  In one of the examples given to us for the readings, a person posed a question on Twitter and it was answered within 10 minutes with websites and references.  I think if we want to have students research topics for papers, they have an easy reference to a world of people on Twitter.  My network is slightly different that the rest of the class I can assume, but I chose Public Health to follow.  After follwing a few big name organizations like American Public Health Association (APHA) there were some pretty good articles and relevant news, which is keeping me in the loop with up to date information.  I can get on board with Twitter and all they have to offer, now I just need to start "tweeting".

-Derek