Finally, I have gotten back to working on my practicum. This week I am off for Christmas vacation and will work on my learning agreement. Today, I have worked on finishing the bibliography, which has been a thorn in my side to get done, but will finally be done today (1 hour)! Five more articles to go . . .

Two weeks ago, my mentor and I finally have met and discussed my plan and process. We had an email meeting on Thursday as I sent her a really neat link to a TED's Talk by Salman Khan of Khan Academy fame (half hour). He uses the term "flipping the classroom" to turn the tables on how we provide education. He believes in using video lectures for students to view as homework, and traditional homework to be completed in the classroom where substantial help is available if a student gets stuck - either from the instructor or from student peers. I love this concept! What is remarkable is that fellow students become the teacher and at the same time develop super user skills - helping others master a new skill. Check it out here Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education

Creatively, I made lots of candy and a cheesecake for Christmas. Cooking is not my forte per se, but I get spurts of wanting certain things to eat. It all started with wanting to make toffee and I made 3 batches. Only the first tasted good, but it still was not quite right. Oh well, I did it!  

Last month I made a concerted effort to join some groups on Linked-In. I found some great tips from a Captivate group and e-learning groups. Also, I have been trying to reach out more on the U-Cern site to see and connect with other organizations that provide computer training for student nurses. The feedback that I have been receiving from the clinical instructors is that our organization provides the most comprehensive computer training - especially when it comes to documenting medication administration. I am not sure if I should add this time to my practicum, so to be safe, I will not since most of that time researching was while working.