Bridging the Gap Workshop

Hi all (those who attended the workshop that is)....watch this space for photos and a brief report....coming soon.
:)PP

In at the Deep End with :)PP... overcoming the fear of Public Speaking...sort of...

I was recently asked to speak to a group of 3rd year undergraduate nurses at UWS, Bankstown Campus. The purpose was to highlight alternative career pathway options to careers in acute settings- the focus was aged care. For anyone who knows me would be surprised...No indeed- shocked that I agreed!
Then comes the anxiety...me- the only CNE in SSWAHS, probably NSW- the planet?? ...who has managed to avoid almost any kind of public speaking in the past 4 years (in this role) and over 20years as a nurse! And NO....toastmasters although they have some really good tutorials and tips for novice speakers did not help me overcome that fear!

UPSIDE: I suppose the positive side of my rampant cowardice is it has allowed me to develop (out of necessity) a very resourceful element to my personality. It has also given me a great deal of empathy and sensitivity for the plight of other speakers, teachers and neophytes.

As Mark Twain is quoted.. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to act in the face of it ....(or something like that).

So why now after 20years of relative silence (anyone who knows me should be rolling on the floor laughing now)...OK! You can stop now! I did say RELATIVE silence!
The reason was because it was literally now or never! The anxiety it evoked in me was intense and made me respond quickly to this email request and quickly press 'send'... in the knowledge tha once agreed...I was committed.

These soon-to-be-new-graduates and I were making history. 20 years ago 1989 I graduated from the same university...(the second group though the college system now the class of 2009 were graduates- the last to graduate from Bankstown Campus.

I attempted to attach a video that captures the moments/s, but will try to upload it later (...oops forgot....minus the copyrighted music... aha maybe that's why)...

Anyway in a nutshell...
Tentative start- checking out the environment (above) ...anxiety building up...(but I only choked 3 times according to the neice)- On reflection- those were the times when I got focussed on the technology- (will I never learn!?) and when they were talking- (Vicki reassured me they were probably engaging in something I had discussed...and not laughing at me as I suspected- lucky for them the lights were dimmed and I couldn't see who it was...).

In the end I enjoying it so much I was nagging them in the end...."move over the other side of the room... com'on move over there! You are making history!...congratulations class of 89...oops..

er...sorry....I meant class of 2009".. (no I didn't...It's all about me!)click... click...

They eventually get into the swing of it and recognise the significance...members of the audience start bringing their cameras down to me at the lectern...I continue taking photos...with their cameras then mine....then time for questions and the Oscar awards- more photos! These are some of the students who made enquiries about the new graduate program in community health....clearly a discerning bunch and deserving of an Oscar for best nurse!

I loooved it!!!! I'm now available for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs....Egads! They've created a monster!!
Cognitive dissonance...embarrassment vs elation (if I didn't love it so much I'd be completly mortified!).

Next Post: The Launch

Let the Post Mortem Begin...

Hello Fellow Bloggers, Now the real torture begins... Just quickly- here is my link, I didn't want to post it until I knew the server had it. I was just dropping off my nephew home, it's his webspace I hijacked it....hence the interesting URL.... http://www.jessecharlton.com/auntie_pauline_needs_to_get_her_own_webspace_and_stop_using_mine/ and he helped me upload it...I wouldn't let him leave until it was almost done- poor kid up until last week -I'd never done that before...I think I want my own webspaces now- I'm quite addicted :) Well this assignment has been a number of firsts for me....I know how to do spry tabs and personalised URL icon...that one was a bit tricky though. But I've found some brilliant sites and have shown the webpage to my bosses already and will use it (the shell- different content) as a local education intranet....linking all the files and presentations.... Next thing is to teach myself flash....how exciting... But along with the excitement comes the sick realisation I have again broken the cardinal rule- I've been sucked into to the technology...but I love it!!! I know I will be reminded of it over and over when I check out all your cool presentations. Take care :)PP

Perplexed?

Don't be.... I discovered my AuthorStream video (AKA slideshow assignment 1) wasn't working and in an attempt to restore it I inadvertantly found another button and deleted the whole thing. So if you haven't seen it or commented before- feel free. Although I noticed there are very few bloggers. Iam resisting this trend and despite the whole assignment pressure thing...I'm doing a salmon.... swimming against the current (blogging and posting my way upstream). Fellow Bloggers... I challenge you to do likewise!

Conceptual slide creation by PP

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Socratities | Upload your own presentation

Accelerometer (Just catching up...better late then never)...

Just when you thought you had heard everything about accelerometers... here's a movie buff's take on the subject and something else to chew on...


iPhone responds to motion using a built-in accelerometer. When you rotate iPhone from portrait to landscape, the accelerometer detects the movement and changes the display accordingly.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/high-technology.html

The technology that allows this function is called an accelerometer...sometimes referred to as a Mercury switch, however an accelerometer is different, since it can have many other applications.

If you haven't heard the term Mercury switch before, you have clearly not watched enough movies. Generally from the war or spy genre when the bomber [generally an unsympathetic character] blows himself up as he accidentally trips the mercury switch... –detecting movement (preventing the hero [sympathetic character] picking up the device [orientation] and throwing it [acceleration] in the lake or fountain - which is almost always conveniently placed nearby. At it’s basic... the forerunner for this technology is a bit like a spirit level which is used to indicate if your hooks are in the right position before you hang your picture frames on the wall, however instead of only indicating level- the mercury hits the end of the device and completes the circuit thereby tripping the switch... BOOM!
An accelerator device also indicates orientation and acceleration but is more sensitive and safer (because it doesn’t contain mercury or explode....but if it is contained within an incendiary device I guess that would be the least of your worries)...

Now we have determined the difference between the mercury switch and an accelerometer it should be noted that Apple wasn’t the first to come up with this technology in fact it was reported that iPhone screen could infringe Sony Ericsson patent...
at least according to a report filed by Patrick Altoft on February 7, 2007 in which he claims a patent filed in 2004 and issued to Sony Ericsson on 1st August 2006 appears to discuss, in some detail, how a mobile phone could alter the screen from portrait to landscape depending on the handset orientation.

Still don't know what an accelerator is? (TEXAS Instruments Guide gives a clear definition)
http://www2.usfirst.org/2005comp/Manuals/Acceler1.pdf

Other more noble applications include Medical applications...
according to Perring S, Summers A, Jones EL, Bowen FJ, Hart K. they have developed A novel accelerometer tilt switch device for switch actuation in the patient with profound disability. 2003:84:921-3. [article] 1

References
http://www.mad4mobilephones.com/iphone-screen-could-infringe-sony-ericsson-patent/452/
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/labratstv/3543-how-the-apple-iphone-works-video.htm
http://www.labwithleo.com/

Article Link

Well wasn't that an interesting exercise? It's funny what you find on the 10th reading of something...I'm sure I would have found much more if I had more time... but I don't know that my authors would have stood up to the scrutiny.

For anyone who wants to read 20 pages 18,931 words about... who cares did I say there were 20 pages? What was I thinking? Surely there were more interesting and shorter articles on the planet... clearly I couldn't find one but don't take my word for it....here is link (you will have to sign into UOW library with your log on details.. but hopefully it should work)... please let me know if it doesn't....
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6VCJ-4VHS7JV-1-9&_cdi=5956&_user=202616&_orig=search&_coverDate=05%2F31%2F2009&_sk=999479995&view=c&wchp=dGLbVtz-zSkzS&md5=7ea5ab36328a39679334e1f784251fc6&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

Did you get a load of the title? Talk about breathtaking. You might have noticed I haven't mentioned the name...I don't want the author to ignore me when I email her about Pattie Maes- I think she needs to look outside the square a little and maybe this should do it- and I don't want to alienate myself before I do.

Actually I started as an apologist but after the 10th reading (Ok maybe even the 5th) I became like a prison guard in one of Milgram's experiments... the power was exhilarating... only kidding...actually I was more like a detective- deducing this inferring that. It was fun.

I am really relishing this last subject.... I don't want this course to end... Better stop I'm getting nostalgic again (besides I can feel people rolling their eyes)...STOP IT! (I'm not parranoid- just perceptive:).

I still think my lead author used a lot from her dissertation about 10 years ago- I can't prove it because I haven't been able to track it down....YET....it is interesting how dogged some writers (and students) are.

I guess it's a bit like our assignments- it becomes your baby and it's so hard to let it go (but that's what 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th- and sometimes 6th drafts are for)....pretend you will come back to it.... but you don't and just have to be ruthless.

<-- This is Ranui my husband sending it off for me.... I couldn't press send I wanted to hang on till 2359hrs but was worried Bigpond would go down again! So reluctantly I had him send it...COWARD! (at 2346hrs if you look closely you may see my reflection on the computer screen...I'm the one waving..."bye baby".....

And this is him scoring it for ---> me (LOL).... I wonder if he realises it is out of 30 and not .03?
Objectivity (maybe even innovation for that matter) might be the difference between holding on and letting go... or maybe I just need to get some more sleep:)

:)PP

Attention fellow (late blooming) critical reviewers!!

For everyone who has just started their critical review (like me)...because there are too many researchers out there... and you have only just now decided on an article... I even found an excellent forensic article- A Motive Analysis as the First Step in Designing Technology for the use of Intuition in Criminal Investigation... just can't seem to shake off that forensic psychology course I deferred in my 2nd year (in 1998).

I hate smorgasbords and being spoiled for choice!

Anyway have I got one for you! I happened upon this link in my cybertravels.... http://arts.monash.edu.au/lls/critical-review-checklist.pdf and was excited enough about it to send it. Of course I discovered it after I had developed my own table/matrix. Anyway I just thought it might be helpful... I think it's a cool little tool and may help with that focus... I still might even use it. Of course you lineal thinkers have no idea what I'm talking about do you?

Now it's back to it (critical review... coffee and chocolate) for me!

Which reminds me... Ian... your teaching strategies (whilst they are clever- positively Machiavellian even...) ...are killing me! ARGH!

:)PP

Post comments to PP's presentation

Zora thinks it's her birthday too!

This is Zora (my St Bernard) and Felicity (my Mokopuna) who instructed me to open the blinds so the neighbours could see her eat her breakfast in bed.. (and to see how the other half live presumably)?
Of course where food is concerned, Zora thinks everyday is her birthday.

The reason I stated this post is to try to figure out how I can convert a PPT to a video....
First Stage- just trying out a video and a picture to see if they upload.
This is in response to a disappointment with slide share and how it interfaces with my PPT - I think I may send them a strongly worded email and ask them why they don't support PPT with animated functions.
Perhaps they will post my letter so other ICT support staff can have a good laugh (see what David Progue has to say about that.... and tell me what you think!).
I noticed Marina was having difficulties with slide share when she initially uploaded her file, but her presentation doesn't appear to have suffered at all. Mine on the other hand was totally reliant on animation... I though I was being very clever by using multiple layering on each slide as a means to cram in more information, but clearly my sins have found me out. Was it George Bernard Shaw who said... "I would have written a shorter letter but I didn't have the time", sounds like something he would have said- if not please enlighten us all...

Clearly the process of design, where economy (although not always found on the cutting room floor) is certainly evident in the final product, whether that is fashion or a technological device.
All the hard work has been made invisible.
Well the video has finally uploaded and I must try to get more than 2 hours sleep tonight or my new graduate nurses will begin to wonder about me when I start talking drivel again... enjoy.
:)PP.

Pauline Murray-Parahi

Viewing the video in which Pattie Maes from TED about the way she reveals a wearable device that interacts with the environment, was exciting but predictable. Gene Rodenberry and George Lucas have been dreaming up this stuff for years... it means a great deal of money for multinational companies and a few more designers of interactive multimedia might stay off the breadline for a few more years? (that is my cynical response)...the gadget -loving brainstorming side of my brain of course was bathed in a soup of dopamine, nor-adrenaline and seratonin... as I positively drooled at the possibilities this will mean to resource-poor (cheapskate) nurse educators like me! If anyone knows where to get a cheap pendant size data projector like that one... please let me know.