By MARK VAGELAKOS
Going green in the process, the healthcare academy is taking a step into the future. The no-paper class uses state-of-the-art technology to prepare students for real world scenarios.
Online textbooks, worksheets and workbooks turn the program to an impressively “green” department, but the real shining jewel of the program’s technological edge is the nursing simulator METIman, a lifelike training mannequin.
“[The mannequin] gives the students more of a hands -on experience. You can feel it and touch it. It’s a safer environment, and you can see how [the body reacts],” Health Science teacher Elisabeth Smith said.
The mannequin is totally customizable and costs $35,000. Different vitals and conditions can be entered into the model which corresponds with the appropriate heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate respective to the condition, as well as other signals and symptoms such as a swollen tongue or rapid blinking. These reactions allow the students to use what they know about body systems to diagnose and treat the patient.
“It’s worth the investment. Students can participate in the hands-on activities and won’t zone out by just reading the textbooks,” sophomore Janet Chen, Health Science I student, said.
An additional benefit to using the mannequin is the ability to practice techniques and procedures that students learn about in the textbook without running the risk of harming fellow classmates or patients which they would otherwise use for practice.
“[Teaching with technology] is more relative. We can practice on the mannequin and can make mistakes without it being severe. She just resets the machine; no one is in danger. You can get a hands-on experience instead of just an explanation. You do the teaching yourself,” Health Science II student Ricardo Jones, junior, said.
Similar simulators are used in nursing schools, hospitals and military facilities to train nurses and medical staff. According to Smith, the METIman helps enhance techniques that are taught in the online textbook.
“It’s a better learning tool because you get to actually do it yourself instead of just taking the information from the book. You get to experience using it,” Jones said. “You can learn stuff a billion times, but until you actually do it, you don’t know exactly how it’s going to happen.”
The mannequin and online tools and resources Smith uses represent a larger trend toward using technological resources in the health program and schools in general. Smith hopes the whole school will go “green” with online textbooks and resources.
“This generation [of students] is brought up with technology. Your brain works in a multi-faceted approach, not a straight-line approach. So your brain is working in a different way and this technology is hitting you and getting you ready for the real world,” Smith said.
One of the best things about the new tools, according to Smith, is the preparation they provide for after students graduate.
“[The new tools] have changed the way we go about teaching. It’s a more interactive and hands-on action role. It’s getting them ready for college and health programs in real life,” Smith said.
Teacher provides unique resources
Ten years ago, teacher Linda Nunez stood at the front of her English for Speakers of Other Languages class, filled with students who were Korean, Spanish, Albanian and other ethnicities. All of them were unable to communicate with her.
To teach her classes the English language, Nunez created lessons that relied on universal visual representations of vocabulary, grammar and culture to relate to her students.
Today, Nunez applies the experience she gained from her ESOL classes to teach English speakers in her Spanish I and Spanish II classes.
However, Nunez goes beyond projector slides, pictures and diagrams and uses popular social networking tools, as well as unique programs to relate to a new set of students that grew up in the technological age.
“My students can do so much more with technology. They’ve grown up with it and are used to it. They are expected to check their e-mail and phones. There are so many more opportunities for learning with technology,” Nunez said.
Nunez keeps a blog which she updates daily with descriptions of what the class discussed and worked on that day. After each entry, she posts the daily work, homework, worksheets and all other handouts for students who are absent or who have lost their work. PowerPoints from class and animations that explain vocabulary from the textbook are also included.
Podcasts of Nunez performing verbal exercises with the vocabulary are available and tutorials are posted in the blog to help students maneuver through her resources and website.
“This isn’t their native language, so if I’m able to show [lessons] visually, it brings the culture to life so the [lessons] are not just an abstract thing; it makes it authentic,” Nunez said.
As a part of Twitticate, a group of teachers that use Twitter as a teaching tool, Nunez communicates with her students using the vocabulary and grammar they study.
“The more senses you use to remember things, the better. It’s hands -on learning, so it helps me to see it being done [in one of the animations]. [Ms. Nunez] tries her best to teach all of her students with all the methods she uses,” junior Maergrethe Box, Spanish II student, said.
She also has several projects in the works, including a teaching-wiki and program on quia.com.
A teaching wiki acts like a Wikipedia page where users can edit content, but is used for projects where cooperation is necessary. Using the teaching wiki, students can work on group projects any time, without having to use time to meet. Nunez hopes this will help students who have complicated schedules.
“You have to know your students and learn their learning style and preference. It’s like a businessman has to know his clients and audience. My students are very involved with things like sports and magnet programs,” Nunez said.
Alongside the wiki, students can go to quia.com to play a variety of language games created by Nunez to prepare for tests or sharpen their skills in specific areas of vocabulary and grammar. Games on the website range from Memory to Battleship
Additionally, Nunez hopes to administer her tests through quia.com, that way students can get immediate feedback without having to wait for their work to be graded.
“[Without the extra resources], the class would be much dryer. We would just be looking at words. It would just be grammar and memorization all day,” Box said.
Nunez hopes the move to teaching with multiple resources expands to other subjects like math and science, to keep up with student’s technological interests.
“Grammar can be boring. You’ve got to make it entertaining. Students have a lot of different personalities and some learn differently. I want to help them as much as I can so they can be successful,” Nunez said.