Final Blog Entry (Module 6)

• What did you like or dislike about taking an asynchronous online course?
I especially liked that we could work at our own pace and that the submission requirements were very spaced out allowing us time to plan on completing the submission requirements based on our class schedule. I liked that it was accessible anywhere and that it did not require me to be at any one location at any specific time, which improved flexibility around other very demanding courses.
If all the courses were asynchronous, I would miss the face to face interaction with other students and instructors, however since the program is blended – I do believe it is beneficial to have several courses designed in this manner throughout the duration of the program.

• What topic did you learn the most about and what was your favorite topic? What did you like least?
The topic that I learned the most from involved the Information Retrieval for which I investigated CINAHL – as it allowed me a real opportunity to work with that retrieval system and get to know many more of its functions. As a result I’ve actually used this website several times since completing that assignment to complete Papers and the like.

My favorite topic involved security as this is something that I’ve had a substantial amount of experience with involving both hardware and software firewalls, encryption, physical disconnect options and SSL to name a few. I think that a comprehensive understanding of these requirements especially when working in healthcare. I was the administrator of a small healthcare facility which required implementing many of these components to ensure privacy of patient and employee information. I always enjoy reading and learning about advances in these areas and it never fails to amaze me how quickly related technologies advance which really demonstrates the need to be continually updating one’s knowledge base of such topics.

• If you were the instructor, and this being the first course for all DNP and Master students, what would you change about the course?
I think that the course is well designed and the textbook is very easy to read and is a useful tool at a beginner to medium level user (which I would expect most nurses in such a program would be). It is an easy read and actually maintained my interest more than expected.
I think the amount of information provided and delivery format (blended with books, online articles, websites and videos) is very effective as it helped to maintain my interest since it varied for each module. I think that it is important for the instructor to know that the students appreciate this and that the monotony of a text/lecture only delivery method can be quite under-stimulating and that keeping it dynamic, I believe truly enhances my learning experience and actual retention of information.