Week 2: Digital Literarcy Skills
In the document: "Are they really ready for work?" by Cassner-Lotto and Wright (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/FINAL_REPORT_PDF9-29-06.pdf), I reflected it from a different viewpoint: "Are they really ready for college and nursing school?"
It seems that many of nursing students either directly out of high school or with a pre-existing associate degree in nursing (from a junior college such as Ivy Tech).... all seeking to obtain their BSN (bachelor of nursing) are just not prepared to write professional or communicate professionally.
A required course that all undergraduate nursing students take is a Professional Communication course in which many aspects of communication are covered. Sometimes the students think it is an English class at times. Of course it is not but some of the verbal and written (email / forum discussions) language is hideous and embarrassing. One assignment that has turned to be fun but has heightened the awareness of poor verbal communication is a Grammar Forum in which students are to observe others in their workplaces or classrooms during the week and she any type of 'bad grammar' via the forum. They do have great stories to share.
I also am concerned with issues about texting language. I also had a student in the fall send me multiple emails with texting slang and expected me to take her seriously. I tried to talk with her about how unacceptable this was especially when requesting something from her professor but she really never got it. Needless to say she was not as successful in the course as she could have been if she had just adjusted her language.
The library and searching for appropriate research / scholarly work is an issue for me too. Because there is so much out there on the web and of course one can google or 'bing' anything, educating college students about what is acceptable and appropriate sources for writing at a higher level.
I found a few great sites that I am using with my beginning nursing students about writing and appropriate sources:
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/credibility1.html
http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/toc.shtml
Please feel free to explore these... maybe they can be helpful.
deb
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Deb
ReplyDeleteI faced similar issues when I taught at Harrison College. Many students did not know how to effectively communicate in writing or verbally. They also needed to polish their professionalism if they were going to get a job when they graduated. I often had students that submitted homework in 'text' language. They would write "2" instead of "to" and so forth. I think a forum might be a little scary to read but then again maybe its a good starting place.
Diane