Abstract
The important stage in using the simulation and social media in training is the determination of the facilitation activities and logistics. While using the simulation and social media in the field of healthcare administration and healthcare ethics training, it is important to provide a detailed discussion of the facilitation steps and logistics procedures that are associated with the development stage of the instructional design plan for training the healthcare providers. To help professionals in the field of health care improve their knowledge and skills in healthcare ethics, it is important to train them using simulations organized as video case studies. It is reasonable to choose Twitter as an appropriate type of social media to help learners practice in defending their ethical decisions in cases and scenarios that are based on ethical dilemmas.
Instructional Design Plan
The important stage in using the simulation and social media in training is the determination of the facilitation activities and logistics (Bozarth, 2010; Kapp, 2012, p. 180). While using the simulation and social media in the field of healthcare administration and healthcare ethics training, it is important to provide a detailed discussion of the facilitation steps and logistics procedures that are associated with the development stage of the instructional design plan for training the healthcare providers.
Develop
Facilitation
Simulation. To help professionals in the field of health care improve their knowledge and skills in healthcare ethics, it is important to train them using simulations organized as video case studies. To accompany their textbooks on health care ethics, Jones & Bartlett developed a series of video simulations that are appropriate to be used to train health care providers in the corporate settings (LearnScapes for Health Care Ethics, 2015). These video simulations are known as LearnScapes: Navigate Scenarios, and they are effective to provide the learners with the necessary experience in the area of health care ethics to develop skills in ethical decision-making.
The concept of LearnScapes is to provide healthcare professionals with an opportunity to take a variety of roles while observing different ethical situations and scenarios and to make ethical decisions using the knowledge on healthcare ethics. Learners are able to participate in video interactions, use interactive guidelines, consult supporting characters, use documents, and refer to the checkpoint diagnostics (LearnScapes for Health Care Ethics, 2015). The simulation addresses the set objectives for the training because it not only provides learners with the necessary knowledge on healthcare ethics but also allows them to apply the knowledge while evaluating ethical situations, resolving questions, making decisions, and addressing ethical dilemmas. The setting of the simulation is realistic, and learners need to play a specific role according to several different scenarios within the environments of different health care facilities and organizations. The navigation of the simulation is the decision tree, and each step of the learner leads to the unique development of the scenario to observe the consequences of decision-making (Motola, Devine, Chung, Sullivan, & Issenberg, 2013).
Researchers state that simulations are actively used in the area of healthcare ethics because this tool allows making the learning closely associated with the healthcare providers’ daily activities (Motola et al., 2013, p. 1512). According to Smith and the group of researchers, simulations associated with ethical concepts are most effective to train learners because of the specifics of materials on healthcare ethics (Smith, Witt, Klaassen, Zimmerman, & Cheng, 2012, p. 391). As a result, the training becomes active, practically-oriented, and meaningful for the practitioner.
The advantages of using LearnScapes in training sessions for the healthcare providers are in possibility to choose the order of cases, to take different roles and participate in different environments, to control the progress and follow several scenarios of developing the situation as well as to check the rightness of decisions. However, there are also barriers in using this simulation for the ethical training associated with the lack of rewards and motivators for learners (Azadegan & Riedel, 2012, p. 486). Additional bonuses should be determined by the trainer.
Social Media. Depending on the goal of the corporate training and on the age and preferences of the target audience, it is reasonable to choose Twitter as an appropriate type of social media to help learners practice in defending their ethical decisions in cases and scenarios that are based on ethical dilemmas. The YouTube channel can be used as the supporting tool to provide learners with the theoretical information on the healthcare ethics presented in a convenient form of video guidelines.
Twitter is selected among other social media because the learners representing different age groups often have Twitter accounts and know the principles of micro-blogging (Bahner, Adkins, Patel, Donley, & Nagel, 2012, p. 2). Twitter is useful to address the objective of applying knowledge to defending ethical decisions in cases associated with ethical dilemmas. This tool allows the real-time and continued communication between learners (Bozarth, 2010, p. 27). Twitter can be connected with the learner’s e-mail to receive notifications about new topics for discussion. This situation will be similar to the real-life discussion of ethical situations by the group of experts. YouTube can be used as the source to find ethical principles and standards. The links to these videos can be shared with the help of Twitter. As a result, using Twitter and YouTube, the learners will meet such objectives as the application of ethical standards, rules, and norms to ethical situations while making ethically correct decisions and the use of skills to defend the decision while resolving ethical dilemmas.
Researchers pay much attention to the effectiveness of using social media in corporate training and learning. Giordano and Giordano state that social media are appropriate for making learning more informal and similar to the real-life communication (Giordano & Giordano, 2011, p. 79). The other researchers focus on the role of social media to promote the collaborative learning based on the principles of discussion and debates (Bahner et al., 2012, p. 3). In this context, social media are useful to make learning flexible and based on the team-building principles. Learners can collaborate as a team, and their real-life communication is changed with the online communication (Giordano & Giordano, 2011).
The advantages of using Twitter are in the fact that this tool allows the constant online exchange of ideas on certain topics and tasks to resolve ethically difficult situations. Thus, Twitter provides the platform for brainstorming necessary for the group work. As a result, the individual learning with the help of the simulation is combined with the group work to achieve the learning goal more quickly (Bozarth, 2010, p. 28). The advantage of using YouTube is in a possibility to receive the ethical guidelines and learning materials in a simple form of a video. Nevertheless, the barriers in using Twitter and YouTube include the resistance of learners to perceive these media as effective tools for learning, and the additional motivation is necessary to balance the perception of such training as a serious task as well as fun activities. Twitter accounts should be created for the training session to avoid using personal information. Furthermore, the activities with the help of Twitter and YouTube should be goal-oriented to achieve better results.
Logistics
Simulation. LearnScapes will be implemented at the stage following the introductory video course provided with the help of YouTube. The trainer acts as a provider of necessary guidance to direct learners’ activities and as an evaluator of the learners’ results. The first step in implementing LearnScapes is the division of learners in groups depending on their work responsibilities. Following this division, the trainer will list scenarios for the simulation in a specific order to address the learners’ needs. Each group will be provided with the introductory word on the principles of using the simulation and instructions on navigating the character. Learners are expected to perform as individual players during a series of scenarios. Evaluations for each scenario are integrated into the simulation, and they help learners assess their successes at the primary stage of training (LearnScapes for Health Care Ethics, 2015). The task of the trainer is to answer the questions associated with navigating the simulation and analyzing the evaluation results.
Social Media. YouTube will be implemented in the training session as the online introductory video course that includes separate videos on the principles, standards, and norms of health care ethics. The use of the YouTube channel is expected to be the first part of the training, and the role of the trainer is only to provide the instructions for using the video course. The second part is the use of the LearnScapes simulation. Twitter is expected to be used during the third part when it is necessary to train in resolving ethical dilemmas and practice in defending the position referring to ethical principles and in communicating with other group members. Twitter is expected to be used for messaging to support the online communication, for brainstorming, updating topics for discussion, commenting on ethical decisions of other learners, asking questions, and receiving the updated information on successes (Bahner et al., 2012, p. 4). In this context, the trainer’s role is to perform as a discussion moderator.
Conclusion
The third stage in developing the instructional design plan includes the focus on facilitation and logistics with references to the selected simulation and social media. It is important to state clearly why the proposed simulation and social media are selected and how they can address the set goal and objectives of the training session. These activities are the key to the further implementation stage.
References
Azadegan, A., & Riedel, J. (2012). Serious games integration in companies: A research and application framework. The IEEE Computer Society, 12(1), 485-487.
Bahner, D., Adkins, E., Patel, N., Donley, C., & Nagel, R. (2012). How we use social media to supplement a novel curriculum in medical education. Medical Teacher, 2(16), 1–6.
Bozarth, J. (2010). Social media for trainers: Techniques for enhancing and extending learning. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Giordano, C., & Giordano, C. (2011). Health professions students’ use of social media. Journal of Allied Health, 40(2), 78–81.
Kapp, K. M. (2012). The gamification of learning and instruction: Game-based methods and strategies for training and education. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
LearnScapes for Health Care Ethics. (2015). Web.
Motola, I., Devine, L., Chung, H. S., Sullivan, J. E., & Issenberg, S. B. (2013). Simulation in healthcare education: A best evidence practical guide. Medical Teacher, 35(10), 1511-1530.
Smith, K., Witt, J., Klaassen, J., Zimmerman, C., & Cheng, A. (2012). High fidelity simulation and legal/ethical concepts: A transformational learning experience. Nursing Ethics, 19(3), 390-398.