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Introduction
to the Course 10%
- Weeks 1 and 2 (28 Aug-2
Sep, & 3-9 Sep) There are
four Assignments in Unit
One.
All
must be completed by midnight, Sunday, of Week 2 of
the course. Notice:
There is a project to be completed towards the end
of the course. Click here
to find out more about it now. Use the forum in
WebCT for Questions
for Instructor on Unit
1 to
ask me questions about anything in Unit
1. Use the forum for
Student
Resources
to post URLs to
links of interest to the entire
class. Post suggestions
about the way the course works in the
Suggestion
Box. Use the
Student
Lounge to
talk about whatever you like; it isn't
course-related. Assignment
1A: Orientation to Online Instruction (Send me
email and post a message in Forum 01)
-
Wk 1 To orient you to the WebCT
interactive tools that you'll be using to
communicate with me and with each other in this
course, and to post your discussions and
assignments, read the following
documentation: • What
Is WebCT? and
Getting
Started with WebCT • Orientation
to WebCT and to Online Learning • Read
Student's Guide to Succeeding with Online
Courses • If you're new to the
Net, make use the Internet
tutorial. (Bookmark
this one: it is a very long web page of resources
from the UC Berkeley library on how to use the
Internet. It is way too much to go through in one
sitting. Go back to it at your leisure from time to
time over the course of the semester. By the end of
the semester, you should be fairly skilled at using
the Internet to search for the information you need
or want.) The ancient Greeks were one
of the first civilizations to define what it means
to be educated. To them, education was not a matter
of accumulating knowledge. Rather it was a lifelong
process of learning about oneself. Human beings are
incredibly complex creatures. We can never fully
understand ourselves, much less each other. And
yet, in nursing we are expected to make
comprehensive assessments about the health and
well-being of the persons for whom we care. So in
Assignments #2, #3, & #4, we'll spend some time
taking a look at ourselves and at each other from
various perspectives. Assignment
1B: Introduce Yourself (A two-step
Assignment) "Believe in
yourself, even when others don't. It is OK to aim
for the stars. If you miss, you may land on the
mountaintops." (Carl Guardino, President and Ceo of
the SIlicon Valley Manufacturing Group, at the San
Jose State University Commencement, June,
2001). During the first week of
class, get acquainted with your fellow classmates
here in our online world. Please write a short (2-3
paragraph) introduction-of-yourself in
Assignment
1B
(Introductions) in
WebCT. Tell us about your nursing background and
share anything you'd like us to know about your
personal or family life. In addition, let us know what
you do for fun, when you are not taking classes. If
there is a topic of interest you would like to see
addressed in this course, please indicate that as
well. (Be sure to post your
introductions in Week 1 so that your classmates
will have time to read them and make their comments
during Week 2.) Click
here
to read about me on my faculty home
page. At any time
throughout this course, you may create
your own individual home page by clicking
on the "Student Home Pages" icon on the
WebCT
home page. Make a brief statement of
connection for each of two other classmates who
share similarities with you (based on what they say
about themselves in their
introductions). Then make a statement of
connection with a classmate whose autobiography
reveals something different from your own life
experience. Assignment
1C: Assess Your Learning Style In
this assignment I want you to assess your own style
of learning. Think about how you learn: Take the VARK
inventory. Then follow the links within the
VARK page, and respond the questions
below. Two-step Assignment:
Step One (Wk
1): Based on your learning style
survey, describe your own learning style and
explain how it relates to the way you will learn in
this course. Explain what you might need to do to
stretch yourself to make this course work for you
if the activities of online instruction are not
immediately consistent with your preferred style of
learning. Comment on why it's important to think
about your learning style. Post your essay in
Assignment
1C
(Learning
Styles). Find at least two classmates
who have learning styles similar to yours, and
comment on how you are alike. Also find at least
one classmate who has a learning style different
from yours and comment on the differences. (You'll
need to post your learning styles early enough in
Step One so that your classmates will have a chance
to read them and make comments in Step
Two.) If you have time and want to
assess your temperament, check out the
following: Kiersey, David M. (1999).
"The Kiersey Temperament Sorter." The
Kiersey Web Site
Assignment
1D: How Will You Take Care of
Yourself? "Self
Care of the Nurse Professional Carer" Step One (Wk
1): Read: Stress
and College Students Managing stress is
the art of maintaining balance in a
nurse's personal and professional life,
especially in this day and age of constant
change in health care organizations.
Become decision makers at every level of
the health care system so your opinions
about reducing organizational stress are
used to improve life for all
professionals. On an individual
level, this requires risk-taking and a
willingness to lead during turbulent
times. It is time for each nurse to step
up to the plate of decision-making and be
a leader; or, if not a leader oneself,
support fellow nurse colleagues to be
leaders. Stress is an essential component
of life. It is a certain level of stress
within our cardiovascular systems that
promotes the flow of blood; it is the
stress of desired, unreachable objects
that encourages an infant to take the
first step toward walking; and it is
frequently stress that leads to
achievement on an individual, group or
systemic level. Interestingly, there are
both positive and negative
stressors. The realistic goal
is not to eliminate stress, but to
determine the optimal balance of stress in
your life and to stay within that range of
stress as much as possible. There are
three basic types of stressors: those that
are inevitable, those imposed, and those
chosen. There does not exist a definitive
line between personal and organizational
stress. The work headache tends to
transform into a disagreement with the
children, and a family argument seems to
migrate into the work setting. The same
rules for managing personal stress apply
regardless of the setting, whether it be
home, school or work. By managing
organization and personal stress, nurses
can step to the forefront of leadership
within and beyond the sphere of health
care. Rate yourself on the
following ways to manage stress and your
professional life. When you're finished
answering all of the multiple-choice
questions, add up your total score and
divide by 11 to get your average score. In
the space at the bottom of the page, enter
your average score, and then talk about
what you learned about yourself as you did
this exercise. What specific goals to you
have for managing stress in your life, and
how to you plan to accomplish them? When
you've finished this survey, be sure to
fill in your name and e-mail address, and
then submit it to me. Finally, return to
Unit 1, Assignment #4, and talk with your
classmates in the threaded-discussion
about self-care and managing stress in
your life. Take
the self-care
assessment survey: Before submitting
your answers to the survey, be sure to
look over your survey and add up your
total score. Then divide by 11 to get your
average score. Go to Assignment
1D
(Self
Care) to discuss what you
leaned about yourself in this survey and about how
you intend to manage stress in your life as you
begin your baccalaureate study of nursing. Read the
postings of your classmate and make comments
accordingly. Home | WebCT | Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Unit 3 | Unit 4 | Project | Evaluation | Site Map |