Holiday Gift Guide: iPad Apps for Students

The usual suspects are here including Evernote and Papers, but there's a few apps that I hadn't heard of before.

Goodbye Textbooks, Hello iPad

While this story is about K-12 rather than higher-education, it does have some interesting points about the use of iPads as a substitute for paper textbooks.

Maybe it's because I am so paranoid about my own iPad getting scratched or broken that I cringe a little bit when I think about it being passed around by a group of third-graders...

YouTube launches education-only site

YouTube has launched a new education-only site.  It looks to me like the emphasis is on providing a safe way for schools to allow YouTube into their classrooms without running the risk of students being exposed to inappropriate videos or inflammatory user comments.


 While doing lectures on phenyton kinetics I've shown this video of a patient having a seizure in order to help students understand what they are treating.

Have you used YouTube in the classroom?

Game-based Learning - Right Around the Corner?

Since 2005, the nonprofit association EDUCAUSE has been publishing annual Horizon Reports that describe areas of emerging technology that will significantly impact higher education in the near future.


In the 2011 Horizon Report, published earlier this year, 6 areas of technology are described that are projected to be adopted into higher education in the next one to five years.


Electronic Books and Mobiles (1 year or less)
Augmented Reality and Game-based Learning (2-3 years)
Gesture-based Computing and Learning Analytics (4-5 years)


We have seen a lot recently about electronic books (i.e., the iPad) in higher education as well as in K-12. But, what about these other technologies?


The use of augmented reality, projected to be adopted in the next 2-3 years, has been demonstrated in medicine, but what how is it being used in other areas? Game-based learning is also projected to be adopted in 2-3 years - Is anyone using games at their institutions now? Do you think 2-3 years is a realistic projection?

How the iPad is succeeding in healthcare

TUAW has a link to a Wired story about the medical market manager for Apple.

It's not a big surprise, since the medical industry is tech-friendly (which is right where Apple wants to be) and has deep pockets to fund upgrades. But it is interesting that Apple has chosen to actively pursue medicine. We can probably expect to see more universities and hospitals embracing the iPad and Apple's devices moving forward.

Some interesting comments following the story about these alleged "deep pockets".

Get diagnosed by spitting on an iPhone

File this under "I'll believe it when I see it"

Korean scientists reckon that the capacitive touchscreens on our phones and tablets could help diagnose diseases from what's floating around in your mouth.  It works through the screen's ability to detect minute capacitive differences in disease-carrying liquids placed on its surface. Experiments by Hyun Gyu Park and Byoung Yeon Won at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology in Daejeon managed to detect chlamydia microbes in three different concentrations.

 Read the full story at Engadget.

Diagnosia, a search engine for medications

TechCrunch has a short piece about Diagnosia receiving start-up funds for their search engine.

Diagnosia basically aggregates those little leaflets you find in packets of prescription drugs and puts them online in a user friendly and accessible format across multiple formats and languages. The attraction to doctors is that none of this information is usually online, so this makes it way asier for them.

They note that similar services are already offered by Rxlist, Drugs.com and Epocrates.

Freescale Home Health Hub wants to usher in the era of connected medical devices

Engadget has a short piece about the Freescale Home Health Hub.  

The Hub is... a central point for connecting various medical devices like blood pressure monitors or glucometers that then feeds data to a tablet. 

There's a link on the blog to the company's Press Release. 

iPhone 4S and HIPAA

I ran across this blurb in an article entitled Six iPhone 4S features you may have missed:

The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to support Bluetooth 4.0, a low-energy Bluetooth spec that allows devices to sync via Bluetooth while consuming far less power than traditional Bluetooth devices. This low-power version of Bluetooth doesn't support voice -- headsets and other voice devices still have to transmit over one of the higher-power specs -- but it does support transmission of data from other peripherals like heart rate monitors, watches, and input devices like keyboards or game controllers.

The Bluetooth 4.0 built-in to the iPhone 4S apparently has the potential for spawning a plethora of new apps related to monitoring personal health, such as glucometers.

Is the Russian Mob running online pharmacies?

This originally appeared a few months ago in The Guardian, but I just ran across it cited in a more recent article.

The story has to do with cracking down on sale of counterfeit medications.  What caught my eye was this:

Most of the fake pharmacy websites are facilitated by Chinese or Russian criminal organisations, says the MHRA, while counterfeit drugs are most often made in China or India.
An additional danger for those wanting to buy their medicines online is that they may put their identity and financial details into the hands of organised crime, it adds.

So, in addition to the possibility of getting fake Viagra there's also the potential for getting further ripped off by the Russian mob?   Scary stuff... 

"Do You Have a Lesson to Teach?"

TED2012 is seeking for 10 of the world's best teachers. If you are not familiar with TED, please visit their amazing web site - http://www.ted.com. Technology/Entertainment/Design were 3 of the first talk topics presented to the world by TED. There are so many more available for you to see, learn from and share with your students.

Is there an educator in this group that will become a next TED teacher?

http://blog.ted.com/2011/11/09/do-you-have-a-lesson-to-teach-seeking-nominations-for-ted2012-the-classroom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TEDBlog+(TEDBlog)&utm_content=Google+Reader

Glooko Enlists the iPhone For Managing Your Diabetes

Gizmodo has some information about Glooko, a service that connect the iPhone to a glucometer.

The $40 sync cable tethers to your iPhone or iPod Touch's dock connector, automatically downloading blood sugar readings from six of the most popular blood glucose meters from Bayer, OneTouch and FreeStyle. The cable works in conjunction with the free Glooko app which not only keeps track of when the reading was taken, but also allows you to add pertinent notes about how you were feeling at the time, your level of physical activity, or what you had recently eaten.

Walgreens pharmacies outfits "health guides" with iPads

From the Chicago Sun-Times we have an article about Walgreens having an iPad-toting employee may just ask if you need help finding real-time health information.

The health guide — a new, full-time employee stationed at 16 Walgreens stores in the Chicago area — is part of the Deerfield-based company’s efforts to become what it calls a “health and daily living resource.”

“The concept is meant to create a pharmacy and health care ‘help desk’ where customers get solutions or referrals for their personal health questions,” said Colin Watts, Walgreen Co.’s chief innovation officer.

Interestingly, the "health guide" is not a pharmacist.  Rather, the role of the health guide is to "keep patients from taking up valuable [pharmacist] time with routine issues".  Supposedly this is to allow the pharmacist to spend more one-on-one time with patients.

Cloud Computing: Promises, Opportunities, and Challenges

Update: Here's the video  http://aacp.adobeconnect.com/p34ek6gr41j/

---

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

Technology in Pharmacy Education and Learning Special Interest Group Webinar Series Presents:

Cloud Computing: Promises, Opportunities, and  Challenges

Thursday, November 10, 2011, 12:00 p.m. Central Time.

By the end of this session, learners will be able to:

• Define the term "cloud computing"
• Provide practical examples of cloud-based tools that can be used for teaching and learning
• Identify some of the strengths of using cloud-based tools in (and out of) the classroom
• Explain some of the legal and technical challenges associated with using cloud-based tools in their classes
• Apply techniques for using cloud-based tools in their own areas of instruction 

Presenters:

• Dr. Jeannine Conway is an Assistant Professor of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and the Director of the PCLC lab at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.
• Dr. Doneka Scott is an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems and Director of Student Learning, Assessment, & Research at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.
• Dr. Jude Higdon, Ed.D. is the Director of Innovative Learning and Academic Technology at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

 Webinar Site Address: http://aacp.adobeconnect.com/tipel

It is recommended to listen to the audio portion of the webinar through your computer speakers. If you do not have speakers or are having audio difficulties, then audio is made available via the following conference call information below.

Conference Call Information:
Phone number: 1-800-377-8846
Participant Code: 94061839#

Please log into the site as a guest using your e-mail address.

Additional Details:

• The meeting room will open at 11:45 a.m. Central Time.
• Participants can access the audio portion of the Webinar via phone (conference call) or computer speakers.
• Participant audio input will be muted so they are not able to speak to other participants, the presenter or moderator.
• Participants can submit questions to the moderator or IT support person via chat. The moderator will review all chat questions and ask selected questions to the presenter periodically.
• An IT support person from AACP will be present throughout the duration of the Webinar to assist with technical support requests from participants (to be received from participants via text chat).

Webinar access information is also available on the TiPEL SIG web site at http://www.aacp.org/governance/SIGS/technology/Pages/default.aspx.

We hope to see you on Thursday. For those who cannot attend, an archive of the webinar will be posted within 24-hours of the event.

University iPad program reveals room for improvement

From TUAW we have news of a couple of studies involving iPads in the classroom.  The faculty who were surveyed listed a number of problems they saw with using the device in the classroom.  At the same time, another study reports that pretty much everyone is getting ready to use them in the classroom, anyway.

Errors associated with outpatient computerized prescribing systems

Errors associated with outpatient computerized prescribing systems.
Nanji KC, Rothschild JM, Salzberg C, Keohane CA, Zigmont K, Devita J, Gandhi TK, Dalal AK, Bates DW, Poon EG.  J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2011 Nov 1;18(6):767-73. Epub 2011 Jun 29.


Abstract
Objective To report the frequency, types, and causes of errors associated with outpatient computer-generated prescriptions, and to develop a framework to classify these errors to determine which strategies have greatest potential for preventing them. 

Materials and methods This is a retrospective cohort study of 3850 computer-generated prescriptions received by a commercial outpatient pharmacy chain across three states over 4 weeks in 2008. A clinician panel reviewed the prescriptions using a previously described method to identify and classify medication errors. Primary outcomes were the incidence of medication errors; potential adverse drug events, defined as errors with potential for harm; and rate of prescribing errors by error type and by prescribing system. 

Results Of 3850 prescriptions, 452 (11.7%) contained 466 total errors, of which 163 (35.0%) were considered potential adverse drug events. Error rates varied by computerized prescribing system, from 5.1% to 37.5%. The most common error was omitted information (60.7% of all errors). 

Discussion About one in 10 computer-generated prescriptions included at least one error, of which a third had potential for harm. This is consistent with the literature on manual handwritten prescription error rates. The number, type, and severity of errors varied by computerized prescribing system, suggesting that some systems may be better at preventing errors than others. 

Conclusions Implementing a computerized prescribing system without comprehensive functionality and processes in place to ensure meaningful system use does not decrease medication errors. The authors offer targeted recommendations on improving computerized prescribing systems to prevent errors.

Peer Review the Web

Techcrunch has an article about Hypothes.is, a startup that has the goal of providing peer review for informaton on websites.

Hypothes.is will be a distributed, open-source platform for the collaborative evaluation of information. It will enable sentence-level critique of written words combined with a sophisticated yet easy-to-use model of community peer-review. It will work as an overlay on top of any stable content, including news, blogs, scientific articles, books, terms of service, ballot initiatives, legislation and regulations, software code and more-without requiring participation of the underlying site.

To be honest, I'm a little skeptical.    I've seen services that annotate websites and they never seem to catch on (a point that is brought up on the Hypothes.is website).   


However, we might be looking at a potential solution for harmful/misleading drug information on the web.


Have you talked to your students about the quality of drug information found on various websites?

Open Educational Resources

An interesting blog from "Getting Smart" discussing Open Educational Resources and how large LMS providers are participating in this process. Where does your pharmacy school stand on OER?

http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2011/10/has-the-oer-tipping-point-arrived/

RIBA II Healthcare Robot

I'm not sure why Japanese manufacturers think that putting a cute face on a robot makes it any less terrifying when it comes for you...but it actually does seem to work.


The RIBA II Healthcare Robot is featured over at TechCrunch.   I'm pretty sure it can't fill prescriptions.

Using Adobe Connect to Allow AACP Sections and SIGs to Hold Webinars and Virtual Meetings

The TiPEL-SIG sponsored a webinar on "Using Adobe Connect to Allow AACP Sections and SIGs to Hold Webinars and Virtual Meetings" on Monday, October 24.   The presenters were Alan Lee, Keith Christensen, Eric Wombwell and Jeffrey Evans.


Adobe Connect is a web conferencing system that is now available so that SIGs and Sections can hold online business meetings and webinars.


Here is a link to the recording of the webinar and supporting documents.

Sloan Consortium -- Best in Track sessions in Orlando, FL

Sloan Consortium announced "Best-in-Track" sessions for its upcoming 17th Annual International Conference on Online Learning to present the most distinguished educators in the field.

Have you ever attended this conference live or online or any other Sloan-C programs?

http://sloanconsortium.org/news_press/august2011_sloan-c-announces-%E2%80%98best-track%E2%80%99-sessions-its-upcoming-17th-annual-international

Academic Performance in a Pharmacotherapeutics Course Sequence Taught Synchronously on Two Campuses Using Distance Education Technology

Michael Steinberg, PharmD, and Anna K. Morin, PharmD

Objective. To compare the academic performance of campus-based students in a pharmacotherapeutics course with that of students at a distant campus taught via synchronous teleconferencing.

Methods. Examination scores and final course grades for campus-based and distant students completing the case-based pharmacotherapeutics course sequence over a 5-year period were collected and analyzed.

Results. The mean examination scores and final course grades were not significantly different between students on the 2 campuses.

Conclusions. The use of synchronous distance education technology to teach students does not affect students’ academic performance when used in an active-learning, case-based pharmacotherapeutics course.

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2011; 75 (8) Article 150.
 

FDA drafts Mobile Medical Applications document

From TUAW:

According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the FDA has drafted a document titled Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff - Mobile Medical Applications which is a first pass at attempting some standardization and looking at regulating the data and communication requirements of apps like this (for example, having a glucose monitor that can sync readings to your iOS device).

There's a link on the page to a website where people can leave comments on proposed regulations.

University of California teacher union to block online courses

IT World has a very short piece about the American Federation of Teachers trying to prevent the implementation of online courses that might reduce the demand for teachers.


The piece is not referenced and there's not much "there" there (apologies to Oakland).   But it brings up and interesting question:   Will implementing online courses cost teachers their jobs?

To Record or Not to Record?

There's an editorial in AJPE called To Record or Not Record which has our own Past-Chair Jeff Cain as a co-author.   From the article:

One of the more challenging and controversial questions facing educators and administrators is whether to record classroom lectures. 

Good stuff.

Pharmacy College Revamps Website

When I first saw that headline from The Worcester Telegram my initial reaction was "This is news?"

But a quick trip over to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences  is worth your time.  They've got a very nice new website.  

I'm jealous.

Turning The iPhone Into A 350x Medical Microscope For Under $50

TechCrunch has a short synopsis and a link to a scientific paper that describes how researchers at UC Davis turned an iPhone into a microscope.

The project is actually quite a simple little hack. They use a 1mm ball lens and attach it to the outside of the iPhone lens array with a rubber sheet and some tape. The little lens technically only offers 5x magnification, but the way it focuses creates a tiny in-focus area that can resolve details down to about 1.5 microns. The field of view is very small and there’s distortion to deal with, but by combining the in-focus areas of several pictures you can get a clear enough image to identify cell types, make counts, or even take spectroscopic readings.

At the end of the article is a link to the original paper on PLoS ONE.

Students and iPads: ACU study shows positive results

TUAW has followed up with Abilene Christian University which has been working to incorporate iPads and iPhones into the classroom.

Thoreau's classroom is in full effect here. In many classes students are interactively building the syllabus, creating the questions and finding the answers. The professors are taking on a new role as "coaches," focusing more on helping students learn to solve problems and answer questions than on rote learning and testing. 

While it sounds like there's more going on than just "everybody gets an iPad", it's an interesting read.

GoodRx: A search engine for prescription prices

There was an earlier post about BidRx, a service which allows patients to submit their prescriptions to a website and have pharmacies make offers as to how much they will charge to fill them.

Now there's another startup called GoodRX which takes a more general approach.  Patients enter the name of the drug and their location.  The site lists the prices offered at various pharmacies in the area and displays the locations on a map.


Again, the question comes up:  Does this kind of service encourage patients to use multiple pharmacies, thus preventing the pharmacist from having the patient's complete medication profile?

Read the story at cnet

Smartphones To Measure Radiation Exposure

Japanese phone company is developing a smartphone with a "jacket" to measure radiation levels. It can also check your body fat and even bad breath.

What are some of your favorite innovative uses of smartphones?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15023061

Are you a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant?

If you are reading this blog, you probably at least speak the ‘digital native language’. A digital native is someone who grew up in the digital age surrounded by digital technology, whereas a digital immigrant came upon digital technology later in life. These terms were coined by Marc Prensky, an author and game designer in the areas of education and learning. He argues that today’s learners are different and that this difference has serious implications for education. Further, he states “today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”. His classic article Digital Native, Digital Immigrants is from 2001, but I think it is still relevant today.

Do you think these terms are accurate? Should there be another category, such as assimilated digital immigrant? Do you think this concept is just part of the generation gap? Or is it something more?

Medify tries to bring medical literature to the layman

cnet has a short article about Medify, a website that indexes Medline and other health-related databases and provides a search interface intended for the layperson trying to diagnose themselves.

Medify analyzes free-form text from abstracts of articles in medical journals, and lets you filter them by patient type (gender or age, for example). Charts show you which studies are most relevant for your group, and also which are newest. The graphical language of Medify's charts is unique, but quickly learned.

I went to the website and put in "sleep" as a symptom.  Filtering the topic by age and gender was pretty straightforward.  However, filtering by concomitant symptoms seemed to get pretty technical pretty fast ("Cheynes-Stokes Respirations" anyone?)


Take a look and tell me what you think.   Is this a useful tool for persons who don't have a health-care background?

Rite Aid rolls out in-store virtual doctor visits

Some Detroit Rite Aid stores are getting kiosks that allow patients to interact in real time with physicians and nurses.

With Rite Aid's face-to-face consultations over the Internet, customers can see and speak directly to doctors who are able to discuss symptoms, provide guidance, diagnose and prescribe certain medications. Customers can also interact with OptumHealth nurses, who are able to offer basic health care education, information on common acute issues and assistance in identifying appropriate provider options for care.

The full story is over at Computerworld.

FDA Asked to Approve Video Game for Treatment of Schizophrenia

New Scientist has a short article about the makers of of a cognitive training game who are seeking FDA approval to market the game as therapy.

Brain Plasticity has been fine-tuning a game to help people with schizophrenia improve the deficits in attention and memory that are often associated with the disorder.

This appears to be a new regulatory area for the FDA and there is some question as to whether "treatments" like this should undergo full approval process or if the FDA should simply develop guidelines to help consumers  pick between what might be effective and what might not.

How to make videoconferencing on your iPad HIPAA-compliant

ZDNet has a short article that asks the question "Is FaceTime HIPAA-compliant?"  


Apparently, the entire FaceTime stream is encrypted and HIPAA-compliant.   The only weak link would be how the person with the iPad connects wirelessly to the Internet.

iPad supports WPA2 Enterprise to provide authenticated access to your enterprise wireless network. WPA2 Enterprise uses 128-bit AES encryption, giving users the highest level of assurance that their data will remain protected when they send and receive communications over a Wi-Fi network connection. 

I'm not sure how practical this is at this time, but it's an interesting fact to keep in the back of your mind.

Is plagiarism detection software helping students plagiarize?

I've not had much experience using plagiarism-detecting software.   The types of assignments we have our students do results in too many false-positives (there's only so many ways of saying "Take on an empty stomach").


David E. Herrington has an essay on his blog where he reflects on the ethics of plagiarism-detecting software.  He makes an interesting observation:

...Turnitin offers another product called WriteCheck that allows students to “check [their] work against the same database as Turnitin.”  .... WriteCheck warned me that “a significant amount of this paper is unoriginal” and advised me to revise it.  After a few hours of right-clicking and scrambling, I resubmitted it and WriteCheck said it was okay, being cleansed of easily recognizable plagiarism.

Turnitin is playing both sides of the fence, helping instructors identify plagiarists while helping plagiarists avoid detection.  It is akin to selling security systems to stores while allowing shoplifters to test whether putting tagged goods into bags lined with aluminum thwart the detectors.

It takes a little while to get to that part of the essay, but it's an interesting read overall.

Think You're An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely

This isn't really "tech", but my School is preparing their ACPE self-study and I thought this was interesting.

There's an article and an audio file over at NPR's Health Blog where they summarize some of the recent controversy over "learning styles".

We've all heard the theory that some students are visual learners, while others are auditory learners. And still other kids learn best when lessons involve movement.But should teachers target instruction based on perceptions of students' strengths?  Several psychologists say education could use some "evidence-based" teaching techniques, not unlike the way doctors try to use "evidence-based medicine."

Are we looking at the pedagogical equivalent of the CAST Trial?  Is what "made sense" for years actually the wrong thing to do?

SmartPhones Can't Cure Acne

IT World is reporting that the FTC has ruled that smartphone apps can't cure acne.

Both apps promised treatment for acne through colored lights emitted from mobile device screens. The app marketers instructed users to hold the screen next to the area of affected skin for a few minutes each day.

But don't worry.  Acne remedies based on homeopathy are still legal.

Smart Phones Help Manage Chronic Illness

Technology Review has an article about connecting smart phones to medical monitors.  

Their apps interface wirelessly with medical devices—including a blood-pressure monitor and a blood-sugar monitor—and offer suggestions based on the readings. They found that people using the programs lowered their blood pressure and were more vigilant about monitoring and testing their blood sugar.

Gimmick or wave of the future?

JiffPad Creates Personalized Medical Diagrams Via iPad

There's a report at TechCrunch about JiffPad, an app for facilitating communication between health professionals and patients.

The app provides a set of pre-rendered medical diagrams that can be linked together into digital narratives for explaining medical concepts to patients visually.  The presentation can also be sent to them electronically so the patients can share it with their family or caregivers.

While the app seems to primarily focus on anatomical concepts, other images can be loaded into the program and incorporated into presentations.

It sounds like there might be some promise in using this app to explain medication mechanism-of-actions to patients. 

Leveraging Pharmacy Practice via Technology

There is a short article at Pharmacy Practice News  that is structured around a series of tweets that went out during the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Summer Meeting in Denver.

“Mobile information appliances offer the greatest opportunity for decision support using the best science possible in the practice of pharmacy and in the health care management decisions for patients,” said Mr. Felkey. Pointing to the wide range of software available for pharmacy, he quipped, “There is an app for that!”

Free registration for the site is required to access the article.

How Much Would You Pay for the Amazon's Version of Netflix?

The rumors have surfaced that Amazon is working on a service that would offer its clients access to a library of books for a fixed monthly fee. It appears that a lot of publishers are quite unhappy about this, as a result the details of this project (and its progress) are quite scarce. It has been mentioned that Amazon might set a high fee and/or limit number of books that one can borrow.

What are your thoughts about such service? How much (maximum) would you pay for it? Do you believe it would be popular among your students?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/amazon-kindle-future-books-publishing-authors-jk-rowling/story?id=14502605

Matternet delivers drugs by robocopter

On cnet there is a story about a company that is proposing using cheap, autonomous flying drones to deliver medications to remote locations.

The "quadrocoptors" have a range of about 10 km when carrying a 2 kg load.

Matternet is trying to create, essentially, a modern, long-distance version of the pneumatic tubes that hospitals use to shuttle samples and papers around.

Seems like there are a lot of logistical problems to solve, but  apparently the Dominican Republic is interested enough to fund a pilot project (no pun intended). 

BidRx: Ebay for Prescriptions?

Here's a technology-related topic for those who teach marketing to pharmacy students:

At Lifehacker there is a discussion of BidRx, a website that allows patients to enter the details of their prescription and then will try to find them the lowest price from several competing pharmacies.

To use BidRx, you'll need your prescription from your doctor or other licensed prescriber. You can mail this in to the pharmacy that "wins" your bid or, depending on the drug (and your state laws), fax it in. Most of the pharmacies listed with BidRx are small ones around the country, but you may find one nearby where you can pick up your medicine in person.

There's some discussion in the comments about the problems of patients having one medication filled at one pharmacy, a second medication filled at another, etc. without a pharmacist being able to review their entire profile.    A pharmacist there is making a good effort to explain to the rest of the group why this is potentially dangerous.

Networked Student

Here is a video that I have stumbled upon looking for interesting topics to share with this group. It is not new, but the information is quite useful and provides good frame of reference for any of the educators who wish to better incorporate social media into their courses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA&feature=player_embedded

Apple hires Pfizer employees to block counterfeit iPhones

Not really having anything to do with educational technology, but this story has an interesting pharmaceutical tie-in.

There are reports that Apple has recruited security team members from Pfizer to assist in tracking down and stopping illegal counterfeiting of iPhones and iPods in China.

Why Pfizer?   Because of Viagra.

Selling counterfeit Viagra tablets in China is a big business and the Pfizer people understand how the underground market (and the Chinese judicial system) works. 

Apple.   Think Different.

What's the best application for taking notes?

Over at Lifehacker they are taking votes on the best apps to take notes and organize thoughts.

The candidates are

1. Evernote
2. Springpad
3. MS One Note
4. SimpleNote
5. Paper and pencil

I know which one I prefer.   What do you like to use?

In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores

The New York Times has an article about the disappointing lack of improvement in standardized test scores despite significant investments in classroom technology.

To be sure, test scores can go up or down for many reasons. But to many education experts, something is not adding up — here and across the country. In a nutshell: schools are spending billions on technology, even as they cut budgets and lay off teachers, with little proof that this approach is improving basic learning.

This article has to do with K-12, but is the same true in higher education?

Yale Medical Students Get iPads

TUAW is reporting that medical students at Yale are all being issued iPads in an effort to reduce printing costs.

The program will distribute 520 iPads. If that sounds expensive, consider this: Dean Schwartz notes that the school spends about US$100,000 per year to copy, collate and distribute course materials. So far, he's spent about $600,000 on the iPad program. Within a few years, Schwartz notes, money saved on printing costs will pay for the initiative.

Anybody else using electronic distribution of materials to reduce photocopying costs?

Twitter Use in Higher Education

Have you ever experimented with Social Media in your teaching? A number of academicians incorporate Twitter in their course work.

The following are two great compilations of tips that can help a novice or an experienced user.

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/09/22/50-terrific-twitter-tutorials-for-teachers/

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2009/07/21/100-serious-twitter-tips-for-academics/

If you incorporate Twitter in your pharmacy courses, please share with us what you do.

Inkling 2.0 for the iPad

I've previously written about reviewing Pharmacotherapy on the iPad.  The company that created the platform for the book, Inkling, is preparing version 2.0 of it's textbook software for the iPad.  There is a video demonstration of the software available at GigaOM.

Papers 2 and Papers for the iPad

TUAW has an article about using the combination of Papers 2 and Papers for iOS to manage your collection of journal articles.

Papers 2 creates a database of references, grabbing their metadata from Pubmed, Google Scholar and directly from science repositories like Science Direct, and attaching the PDF files.

Papers for iOS syncs with the desktop version to transfer your journal article collection with your iPad.

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a Windows version, so I'm afraid I'm going to be missing out.  

Hackers Hijack Websites In Online Pharmacy Scam

Somewhat related to the previous post is a report on NPR about hackers redirecting search engine results to illicit online drug sellers.

Hackers work the scam by sneaking their own code into a legitimate website. That way the site shows up on a Web search for a prescription drug. If someone clicks on the search listing, it forwards them to an online pharmacy, not to the legitimate site. The owners of the hacked site usually have no inkling their URL has been hijacked.

The image in the blog shows a link to the University of Massachusetts being redirected to a site that sells Cialis for $3.30 each.

Google pays $500 million for selling illegal prescription advertising

Here's something for my colleagues who teach pharmaceutical marketing.

The New York Times has a summary of the $500 million settlement that Google reached with the federal government regarding charges that Google had "knowingly shown illegal ads for fraudulent Canadian pharmacies in the United States".

Illegal online pharmacies have been a challenge for regulators, because the Internet makes it easy for them to operate under the radar and emerge under different names when they get shut down.

There are some comments in the discussion section that suggest that

"These so-called 'illegal' pharmacies exist purely because the cost of pharmaceuticals are artificially, ridiculously (and intentionally) high-priced in the U.S. If the costs were more equitable the online pharmacies could not compete and it then becomes an automatic non-issue."

What do you think?

MakeUseOf Guide to Best iPad Apps

In preparation for the upcoming school year you and your students might be looking at some new mobile devices.

MakeUseOf created a nice guide to best iPad applications - many of them are free or relatively inexpensive. http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-ipad-apps

If you are already using an iPad, what are your favorite applications? (for your personal and/or professional use)

Researcher Hacks Insulin Pump

Well, this is worrisome.

A computer security expert who has diabetes discovered that he was able to hack his own insulin pump and remotely send it signals to give incorrect doses.  Apparently, there are no systems in the pump that would require authentication of signals that are sent to it.

“My initial reaction was that this was really cool from a technical perspective,” Radcliffe told the Associated Press. “The second reaction was one of maybe sheer terror, to know that there’s no security around the devices which are a very active part of keeping me alive.”

Two lawmakers have asked the General Accountability Office to investigate the matter.

Best Ebook Reader for Scientific Papers?

There is a discussion over at Slashdot about which e-reader is best for scientific papers.

Many of the opinions favor the iPad while others debate the pros and cons of using a Kindle or a Nook to view articles.

Do you read journal articles on a tablet or e-reader?   What works and what doesn't?

Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Shut Down Facebook Pages

The Washington Post is reporting that several pharmaceutical manufacturers are choosing to shut down Facebook pages rather than comply with new rules that state that they have to allow user to post comments on the "walls" of pages devoted to particular disease states and patient communities.

The industry is concerned that users might write about bad side effects, promote off-label use or make inappropriate statements about a product, and that the comments could raise concerns from government regulators.

Facebook will continue to allow companies to block comments on pages related to specific prescription products.

Epidermal Electronic "Tattoo" Collects Biomedical Data

A research team at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and has developed a type of electronic sensor that is applied to the skin much like a temporary tattoo.

We report classes of electronic systems that achieve thicknesses, effective elastic moduli, bending stiffnesses, and areal mass densities matched to the epidermis. Unlike traditional wafer-based technologies, laminating such devices onto the skin leads to conformal contact and adequate adhesion based on van der Waals interactions alone, in a manner that is mechanically invisible to the user. We describe systems incorporating electrophysiological, temperature, and strain sensors, as well as transistors, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, radio frequency inductors, capacitors, oscillators, and rectifying diodes. Solar cells and wireless coils provide options for power supply. We used this type of technology to measure electrical activity produced by the heart, brain, and skeletal muscles and show that the resulting data contain sufficient information for an unusual type of computer game controller.

The research is published in the journal Science.

What pharmacy-related uses can you see for such technology?


Gary Theilman
University of Mississippi

New in AJPE This Month

Computer-based Simulation Training to Improve Learning Outcomes in Mannequin-based Simulation Exercises

Lindsay B. Curtin, PharmD, Laura A. Finn, Quinn A. Czosnowski, PharmD, Craig B. Whitman, PharmD, and Michael J. Cawley, PharmD

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences


Objective. To assess the impact of computer-based simulation on the achievement of student learning outcomes during mannequin-based simulation.

Design. Participants were randomly assigned to rapid response teams of 5-6 students and then teams were randomly assigned to either a group that completed either computer-based or mannequin-based simulation cases first. In both simulations, students used their critical thinking skills and selected interventions independent of facilitator input.

Assessment. A predetermined rubric was used to record and assess students' performance in the mannequin-based simulations. Feedback and student performance scores were generated by the software in the computer-based simulations. More of the teams in the group that completed the computer-based simulation before completing the mannequin-based simulation achieved the primary outcome for the exercise, which was survival of the simulated patient (41.2% vs. 5.6%). The majority of students (>90%) recommended the continuation of simulation exercises in the course. Students in both groups felt the computer-based simulation should be completed prior to the mannequin-based simulation.

Conclusion. The use of computer-based simulation prior to mannequin-based simulation improved the achievement of learning goals and outcomes. In addition to improving participants' skills, completing the computer-based simulation first may improve participants' confidence during the more real-life setting achieved in the mannequin-based simulation.


Lindsay B. Curtin, Laura A. Finn, Quinn A. Czosnowski, Craig B. Whitman and Michael J. Cawley (2011). Computer-based Simulation Training to Improve Learning Outcomes in Mannequin-based Simulation Exercises. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education: Volume 75, Issue 6, Article 113.



Gary Theilman
University of Mississippi

Pharmacy Textbooks through Facebook

Kno is a publisher of electronic textbooks and has a few pharmacy-related titles in their catalog.

According to Techcrunch, Kno had originally developed their own e-reader but decided to forego it in favor of the an iPad app.  What caught my eye is that they also offer reading textbooks through Facebook.

I signed up for the Kno application through Facebook to see what it looked like.  Within Facebook the student is given a menu which includes links to all the textbooks they have purchased.   Clicking on the title of the textbook opens an external browser window that loads Kno's web-based reader.  

You could also launch the web-based reader directly from Kno's website.   At present, several features are labeled "Beta" and it appears to be a work-in-progress.

What do you think about using Facebook as an entry portal for textbooks and other class materials?

Outsourcing grading to a computer?

There was a very interesting article today on The Chronicle's web site about outsourcing grading, possibly even to a computer. What do you think about this development? The arguments for are that it makes assessment entirely merit-based, as graders have no preconceived notions of who the students are or what their capabilities are -- they just see their work and evaluate more neutrally. Thoughts?

EHR on the iPad

dr chrono is an electronic health record app for the iPad.   


An interesting thing about the app is that it has been certified under the HITECH Act for "Meaningful Use" which makes it's users eligible for financial incentives from the government.   The website claims that physicians can receive up to $44,000 if they start using the app.

Free Textbook Chapters from inkling

inkling is a platform for publishing textbooks on the iPad.   I had some exposure to the platform earlier this year when I reviewed a preview chapter of DiPiro's "Pharmacotherapy" on the iPad.


inkling is making available several free preview chapters for their textbooks (it doesn't look like "Pharmacotherapy" is available, yet).   Here's a few links to books that have free preview chapters


Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology

Essential Clinical Anatomy

Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry

Using iPads interactively in the classroom

There's a short story and video about a pharmacy school in Australia which custom-built a classroom to enable interaction between faculty and students using iPads.


Those schools that require/encourage their students to have tablet computers:   What are you having them do with them?

Errors Associated with Outpatient Computerized Prescribing Systems

American Medical News has an story about something that should be self-evident to those of us who work with technology:   Involving a computer in the process doesn't prevent humans from making errors.


The study, Errors Associated with Outpatient Computerized Prescribing Systems, found that of 3850 computer-generated prescriptions received by a commercial outpatient pharmacy chain across three states

"About one in 10 computer-generated prescriptions included at least one error, of which a third had potential for harm."

This might be a good reading assignment for students who put a little too much faith in the ability of machines to catch their mistakes. 

Social Media and Pharmaceutical Self-Promotion; A Bad Cocktail or Public Health Service?

John McElhenney has a blog post entitled Social Media and Pharmaceutical Self-Promotion; A Bad Cocktail or Public Health Service? where he reviews how various pharmaceutical manufacturers use Facebook. He asks

Do the pharmaceutical companies provide valuable information through channels like Facebook and Twitter, or is it merely advertising cloaked as social media conversations? How much of what is deemed "social media" is simply repackaging of the drug maker's message and how much of it is actual discussion and dialogue?

Gary Theilman
University of Mississippi

Integrating Social Media into Emergency-Preparedness Efforts

The New England Journal of Medicine has a short article about the need for studies to examine the use of social media in public health:

Studies are needed to evaluate the reliability and validity of public health–related information communicated through social media. Some relevant metrics (e.g., Twitter Analytics, Flikr Stats, and Google Analytics) already exist and are used by the business community, yet few published scientific studies have applied these tools to evaluating the capabilities or effectiveness of social media in public health emergencies. Also lacking are studies evaluating whether the integration of social media into public health efforts affects the costs, quality, or outcomes of health care.

What's been your experience with social media to communicate health information?


Gary Theilman
University of Mississippi

Pharmacists Warned Not to Use Facebook

In Britain, pharmacists are being told not to "friend" their patients on Facebook and other social media sites.

I've seen surveys on opinions regarding faculty/student relations on Facebook. But what are you telling your students about interacting with patients on social media?

Pharmacy debuts new robotic system

The Fort Leavenworth Lamp  has a news story about a new pharmacy robot at Munson Army Health Center Pharmacy.    


Do any schools have required instruction on the use of pharmacy robots in their curriculum?   Or is the student getting information on robots just luck of the draw with respect to where they end up doing their experiential work?

FDA proposes regulation of mobile healthcare apps

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the FDA has introduced a proposal that would "allow it to regulate smartphone and tablet apps that relate to health and medical needs".

This might include apps for smartphones that measure blood pressure, ultrasound apps and handheld cancer detectors.

Is anyone working with students to help educate patients about the use of mobile electronic devices to monitor their health?

Via Gizmodo

Amazon allowing students to "rent" textbooks on Kindle

Amazon has announced that they will start allowing students to rent textbooks on their Kindle for 30 - 360 days for "up to 80% off the list price of the print textbook".


Annotations that the student makes to the textbook will be preserved even after the rental period ends.


I didn't see much in the way of pharmacy-specific titles for rent, but Amazon plans to make more and more titles available over time.


Are we seeing the beginning of the end for paper and ink textbooks?

Educational Research and Facebook Privacy

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article detailing some of the ethical concerns of using data collected from Facebook as part of educational research.


What has been your experience with respect to asking students to provide consent to participate in research related to teaching?

2011 TiPEL SIG Business Meeting

I hope to see a large turnout at the annual business meeting this year. We are specifically looking to increase participation in TiPEL activities. Opportunities for this will be discussed at the meeting. The agenda for the meeting is below.

Call to Order
Approval of Minutes
Report of the Chair
Report of the Secretary
Report of Programming Committee
Report of Nominating Committee
Report of Ad Hoc Committees

Webinar Committee

Unfinished Business

Instructional Technology survey/database

New Business

Webinar Committee for 2011-2012

Topic-specific bloggers for 2011-2012

Closing Remarks
Installation of Officers
New Chair Remarks

Recognition

Committee volunteers

Adjournment

Technology-related Posters and Presentations in San Antonio

Do you have a technology-related poster, presentation, roundtable, etc. at the AACP meeting in San Antonio?


Add the information about it to the comments following this post so that members of the SIG will have a handy list they can refer to when deciding what to do each day.

TiPEL-SIG Program at AACP Meeting in San Antonio

iPads, Twitter, Google Sites, and Next-Gen Distance Learning: Interactive Technologies for Active Student Engagement
Jude A. Higdon, Nichole M. Kulinski, Amy L. Pittenger, Christene M. Jolowsky


In this session, several projects utilizing collaborative tools will be described for experiential, classroom-based, and research applications, including an iPad evaluation, social networking, "next generation" student response technology, web-based collaborative writing tools and a range of distance learning strategies for engaging learners. Program will include active participation and panel discussion.


During this session, learners will:
• Identify ways in which our students found iPads helpful -- and not helpful -- to their learning activities
• Articulate ways in which social tools, in particular Twitter, may be used to help build scholarly community among students
• Learn about and engage with emerging, cloud-based, device-neutral student response systems such as ChimeIn
• Explore the use of web-building sites such as Google Sites as a way for health professional students to demonstrate content mastery
• Describe how collaborative writing with tools such as PB works can enhance learning
• Identify techniques for engaging distance learners

Tuesday, July 12

3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Grand Hyatt San Antonio

Lone Star Ballroom, Salon C; Floor 2

Continuing Education credit will be available

Inkling iPad Textbook

I was recently given the opportunity to review a chapter of the upcoming 8th edition of "Pharmacotherapy:  A Pathophysiologic Approach" on the Inkling platform for iPad.   I was quite impressed.


There is a video demonstration of Inkling on the iPad at All Things D.   


What do you think about the idea of students having textbooks on the iPad?   "Wave of the future" or "flash in the pan"?


Gary Theilman, Pharm.D.
University of Mississippi  

TiPEL SIG Webinars

During my year as chair of the TiPEL SIG, I have not utilized this blog as much as I intended, but better late than never. By now, you should have received email notifications of the TiPEL SIG Webinar series. This series was developed for 2 primary reasons.

1. To provide leadership in the use of webinar technologies to the rest of the Academy.
2. In addition to the annual meeting, to provide members of the Academy with additional learning opportunities regarding teaching, learning, and technology.

I tasked a small workgroup to develop and implement the series. They have put a lot of time and effort into it and deserve some recognition. Those individuals are:
Tracy Chapman, Creighton
Jude Higdon, Minnesota
Mark Smith, New Mexico
Eric Wombwell, Missouri-Kansas City

Also, Allan Lee from AACP was instrumental on the technical "back-end" of the webinars and provided vital assistance.

Please take advantage of these seminars and if you have any questions with regard to how your SIG or Section might effectively use webinars for something similar, please contact me or any of the work group members.

Jeff Cain, EdD, MS
Adjunct Associate Professor
Director of Education Technology
University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy
jeff.cain@uky.edu
(859) 257-4429