Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Being a learner at my age (51)
Being a learner at my age
I am fifty-one years of age and I have been learning all my life. I have been in school or have been learning ever since first grade. All my life I have had a joy of learning and acquiring knowledge. I like knowing many things and being able to teach others. Something I took as high praise: about two years ago a colleague said to another about me, “he’s like a sponge—he constantly just soaks up information.” I often learn for the sheer joy of it.
I completed the usual K-12 education, went to college and got my bachelor’s degree in education and Spanish. I taught for two years and decided to enter nursing. I got a second bachelor’s degree, a BS in nursing. I worked as a staff RN for two years then went back to school—to get my MS in nursing. I graduated in 1991 with my MSN and began my greatest personal hiatus from “school”. This hiatus coincided with the raising of my two daughters. Although I continued to learn as I attended conferences, seminars and inservices, I did not pursue my doctorate until 2008.
Now, in my doctoral program, I feel I am really ready to learn and to learn what I need to know in order to pursue the next phase of my career, the next phase of my career being teaching nursing at the university level. What I am learning now will have impact upon my dissertation work and enable me to generate new nursing knowledge, especially concerning skill acquisition. Over the next ten years or so, I hope to better understand how nurses gain skill and knowledge and to better understand how nurses learn, in order to make positive changes on how nurses are educated.
A particular challenge to me in my online doctoral program is the online format. It is not difficult, but rather, different. It is the most different, new thing about formal learning at this stage in my life as I am so unused to the virtual learning environment. I was trained as a teacher in the more classic style prior to my becoming a nurse. As a language teacher, I was adept at using audiovisuals in class and incorporating various media into the courses. However, the online format is new and it is simply another educational tool for me to learn.
For those learners coming after me, those who are in or are approaching middle age, I would counsel them to embrace technology, rather than avoid it. I encourage them to become familiar with computers, the internet, blogs, and even Facebook as these technologies populate the environment in which they will be learning. Upcoming middle life learners need to be adept at using software suites such as Microsoft Office and know how to perform searches and investigations for information. Lastly, internalize this: the librarian is the learner’s best friend.
I am fifty-one years of age and I have been learning all my life. I have been in school or have been learning ever since first grade. All my life I have had a joy of learning and acquiring knowledge. I like knowing many things and being able to teach others. Something I took as high praise: about two years ago a colleague said to another about me, “he’s like a sponge—he constantly just soaks up information.” I often learn for the sheer joy of it.
I completed the usual K-12 education, went to college and got my bachelor’s degree in education and Spanish. I taught for two years and decided to enter nursing. I got a second bachelor’s degree, a BS in nursing. I worked as a staff RN for two years then went back to school—to get my MS in nursing. I graduated in 1991 with my MSN and began my greatest personal hiatus from “school”. This hiatus coincided with the raising of my two daughters. Although I continued to learn as I attended conferences, seminars and inservices, I did not pursue my doctorate until 2008.
Now, in my doctoral program, I feel I am really ready to learn and to learn what I need to know in order to pursue the next phase of my career, the next phase of my career being teaching nursing at the university level. What I am learning now will have impact upon my dissertation work and enable me to generate new nursing knowledge, especially concerning skill acquisition. Over the next ten years or so, I hope to better understand how nurses gain skill and knowledge and to better understand how nurses learn, in order to make positive changes on how nurses are educated.
A particular challenge to me in my online doctoral program is the online format. It is not difficult, but rather, different. It is the most different, new thing about formal learning at this stage in my life as I am so unused to the virtual learning environment. I was trained as a teacher in the more classic style prior to my becoming a nurse. As a language teacher, I was adept at using audiovisuals in class and incorporating various media into the courses. However, the online format is new and it is simply another educational tool for me to learn.
For those learners coming after me, those who are in or are approaching middle age, I would counsel them to embrace technology, rather than avoid it. I encourage them to become familiar with computers, the internet, blogs, and even Facebook as these technologies populate the environment in which they will be learning. Upcoming middle life learners need to be adept at using software suites such as Microsoft Office and know how to perform searches and investigations for information. Lastly, internalize this: the librarian is the learner’s best friend.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
First Posting
Greetings, all! This is my first attempt at blogging. This is a new experience for me. I presume this will become a welcome outlet for me in that, as you all know, I always have a lot to say. If any of you would like to buy me a present, get me the t-shirt that says, "Help, I'm talking and I can't shut up!"
My blog is entitled, "Ted, RN Trains" because it's what I love and it's what I do. I am a nurse educator and I train nurses; I have been a railfan since birth and I love trains. A colleague told me last year, "Nursing may be in your heart, but trains are in your soul." I considered that, and I have realized that that is incredibly accurate in describing me.
After completing my doctorate in education (EdD), I plan to teach nursing at a university. I can't not teach-I was a language teacher prior to becoming a nurse. I look forward to retirement from nursing education because I will then get to do something I have wanted to do since I was three--be a locomotive engineer; preferably on a steam locomotive (I would pay to go back in time to work as an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad and drive a big 4-6-2 steam locomotive or the fabled GG1 electric locomotive).
So, bear with me as I continue on this journey into discovery and "locomotivity".
TAP
My blog is entitled, "Ted, RN Trains" because it's what I love and it's what I do. I am a nurse educator and I train nurses; I have been a railfan since birth and I love trains. A colleague told me last year, "Nursing may be in your heart, but trains are in your soul." I considered that, and I have realized that that is incredibly accurate in describing me.
After completing my doctorate in education (EdD), I plan to teach nursing at a university. I can't not teach-I was a language teacher prior to becoming a nurse. I look forward to retirement from nursing education because I will then get to do something I have wanted to do since I was three--be a locomotive engineer; preferably on a steam locomotive (I would pay to go back in time to work as an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad and drive a big 4-6-2 steam locomotive or the fabled GG1 electric locomotive).
So, bear with me as I continue on this journey into discovery and "locomotivity".
TAP
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