Teaching Project Completed! Spells Relief!

Hi Class:

It was a big relief for me to get the teaching project completed. I had the project ready some time back, but after several weeks of trying, could not find a forum to deliver what I had prepared. In my search for an instructor sponsor, Dania Ochoa came to my rescue thank God! I had an opportunity to teach in her class, albeit I had to change my project completely, to teach objectives that were pending in her course.

I met with her on a Thursday, and the project needed to be delivered on the following Tuesday. I wanted to meet with her on Monday, but other obligations concerning work did not accommodate. I was able to finish up preparations only the night before, so I was a little tense. Thank goodness everything went ok. I printed out the PowerPoint slides, 3 to a page, as a backup. I had purchased the student software for the updated version of PowerPoint, but could not get it to load. The installation on my PC would not work.

So I then made the PowerPoint slides on an older version, but the only computer I could use was my MacBook, that I did not know would be compatible displaying over the PC at the school or not. So I printed out the slides in note taking form primarily for a backup plan in case the file would not open on the PC. Thank God that the file DID open once I got to UTB, but there was no time to try ahead of time, so I was really sweating it. I have taught enough though at our facility of Rio Grande State Center to know that it is always good to have a backup plan.

Anyway, I got through it, and the sessions went well. It was a great experience, and I really enjoyed working with Dania Ochoa who graciously granted permission for me to teach her class. Dania is a wonderful credit to her profession, and it was my pleasure to meet her and her students.

Great experience.

Best regards,

Robin Martin
P.S. I wish everyone the best Thanksgiving ever. :-)

Validating the learning process

Hi Class:

Our Unit 3 module in our course deals with validating the learning process, making sure that students are actually learning what we teach. Im my honest opinion, the old standbys of written examination is still the best choice when it comes to validating and showing that learning has actually taken place. I recently had a big challenge at my place of employment regarding this.

I decided to make a 10 question quiz concerning our hand hygiene policy, and then make it a requirement that each direct care staff be instructed that they must take the quiz daily until they were able to make score of 100%. I had virtually no one score 100% unless they actually sat down and took the necessary time to read and digest our policy on the hand hygiene.

I am happy to report that by and large, most of our facility was brought up to speed on our hand hygiene policies, and what they said. Now, even the least versed individual has been scoring well on the short quiz. It has been a rewarding experience, and the quiz has done well in weeding out those that actually know the policy from those that don't.

Best regards,

Robin Martin

Converting Classroom Content to Distance Learning Format

This week included a very interesting assignment, namely, what we would do to convert a classroom teaching project to an online distance learning course. There are number of important differences between classroom and online distance learning settings. A glaring deficit of online learning is a great empty canyon of communication between instructor and student, that is plentiful in the classroom but sorely lacking in nearly all distance learning environments.

I once took an online course (different college) that was so poorly put together, with instructions so misleading, confusing, and in some cases just downright incorrect; I had to complain to the dean of the college after the instructor of the course also proved to be completely absent and impossible to even contact or find.

The end of that conversation lead to everyone in the course passing and the instructor being reprimanded (several of the students were previously failing, and I in fact was normally their resource of choice). It was a statistics course that is generally a pretty difficult course even in the classroom. That bad experience has made me a little wary of online courses ever since, and I am generally pretty vocal and prompt about pointing out mistakes or confusing content online.

I am happy to say that the quality and responsiveness of our UTB instructors in our distance learning has been so far above the mediocre attempt at online learning from the other college in the statistics course. Still, improvements can be made to further elevate the quality of our distance learning experience. Such improvements do not come without extra time, attention, and a certain amount of creativity and technical prowess from instructors, but recent advances in software, computers, and technology make it possible to virtually eliminate all online learning disadvantages, while retaining all of the unique advantages of this learning platform.

Best regards,

Robin Martin

Africa Here We Come!!!

Just a short note of something interesting and wonderful that happened to me just today!! The safety syringe I invented? The one that I had often described to my friends as a large ship dead in the water in the middle of the ocean without any fuel (and no wind or sails)?  Guess what???

It's now on its way to Africa!! Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus. With God's help it may finally do some good for healthcare workers doing the Lord's work.

I just had to mention it! I'm so excited. Finally after all these years.

Best regards,

Robin Martin, RN, BSN, LNCC, (MSN student)
P.S. NURS 6464 Unit 1 blog posting is just below this one. 

Teaching Role for Nursing Faculty - Posting for Unit 1

Well, here we are again with another interesting semester and project. It took me a while to dig out the old assignments, but thank goodness I still have the same computer, and the hard drive has not crashed! I managed to find how to get back onto my blog, and enjoyed sprucing it up a bit.

I am so much looking forward to the class project, as I would like to teach a short course in nurse/patient interactions on a mental health unit, primarily focusing on how to maintain safety of both the staff and the patient. Such a course is sorely needed in mental healthcare, and I have yet to see one with 11 years in this specialty field.

Since the class project is only supposed to take a maximum of 45 minutes, I had to change it up a bit from the outline I had produced in the earlier course, and plan to do a condensed version. Next I need to figure out how to send a link again to get back here. Hopefully I can do that successfully in the next few minutes, as it is getting late.

Well, that is all for now. We are getting closer to the goal of graduation, and I'm enthusiastic about finishing. Thank you for reading my blog, and have a great evening...

Best regards,

Robin Martin RN, BSN, LNCC

Reflection...reflection

Think about the act of reflection and your semester experience in incorporating reflection in your practice and on your blog.


This semester has been a learning experience like no other. In this course, I have spent time reflecting and pondering many interesting subjects. I have always been an analytical thinker, and so reflection is no stranger to me. I enjoy reflecting on many things, and find that upon reflection and pondering, I often am able to make better and wiser decisions than without such mental exercise. 


The nursing position I am in currently also requires a lot of thinking and planning. I am glad that this course has engaged in such practice. It is often the great thinkers of this world that help bring innovative and better ways of doing things to the forefront of society. This course has been a great and enjoyable learning experience, that has met the objectives and assisted me in expanding my nursing knowledge base. 


Best regards,


Robin Martin 

Reflection on Nursing Aspirations

Hello Class:

The role I would aspire to would be that of Nurse Educator, which is also my current job title, along with Infection Control Preventionist, or ICP.  However, lately I have also thought that I would like to cross over into the role of a Nursing Instructor. I don't think there is a better way for me to pass on my Nursing years of experience, and higher education, than by being an instructor.

This unique position in our society allows us to influence, for better or worse, upcoming generations of Nursing professionals. I believe I have valuable experience to relate and to offer, and that I would be able to perform well in this role. For now of course, I seek to do my best and to do well in the current Master's program. Once this program is accomplished though, I would really like to delve into a Nursing Instructor role. I think my current practice interfaces very well with this career path, and is aimed in the right direction.

Best regards,

Robin Martin