tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14337946732114731962024-03-09T21:46:09.589-05:00Technology in (Medical) EducationStories of my ideas and experiments with technology tools in education.Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-89212116483497234602018-12-02T14:44:00.001-05:002018-12-02T15:11:55.689-05:00Ring Your Phone from Fitbit Versa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So the Black Friday genie was good to you and you got a Fitbit Versa (or Ionic)?<br />
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If you are interested in doing some cool things with this device and make it really smart, you need to learn about <a href="http://www.ifttt.com/" target="_blank">IFTTT</a> and Switchr.<br />
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Even if you don't have a smartwatch, it is a good idea to get an IFTTT account. With it, you can do really useful (not just cool) things like <a href="https://ifttt.com/applets/87107726d-twitter-to-diigo" target="_blank">saving a tweet you like to your Diigo</a> bookmarks automatically.<br />
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If you have a Fitbit Versa (or Ionic) you can create buttons on the watch face to extend the functionality of IFTTT to your wrist. A useful button would be one that would help you find your phone in the house by ringing it. [if you have a smart speaker, you can achieve this same objective by setting it up to ring your phone when you ask but you are more likely to have your watch with you at most times rather than the speaker!].<br />
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<b>What you need to do:</b><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>On you phone - install the </li>
<ul>
<li>IFTTT app from the App store and </li>
<li>Switchr app from within the Fitbit app.</li>
</ul>
<li>On the web, create an account on IFTTT</li>
<ul>
<li>Search "webhooks" click on Connect and under setting find your URL with the private key -- the part after https://maker.ifttt.com/use/ - will be about 21 characters. Do not share this key with others.</li>
</ul>
<li>On your phone</li>
<ul>
<li>log into IFTTT and create new applet (big +sign at top right)</li>
<li>If this -- use webhooks and use "Ring_phone" (without quotes) as event name</li>
<li>If that -- use call phone (you will enter your own phone number and verify it with PIN that is sent to you)</li>
<li>Save this</li>
</ul>
<li>On your phone</li>
<ul>
<li>Go to fitbit app then</li>
<li>your device then</li>
<li>Apps then</li>
<li>Switchr then</li>
<li>Settings then</li>
<li>Create button</li>
<ul>
<li>URL use https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/Ring_phone/with/key/<span style="background-color: white; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: "proxima nova" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">{key}</span></li>
<li>Instead of {key} enter your 21 character private key mentioned above</li>
<li>Name the button RING</li>
<li>Choose the color of the button</li>
</ul>
<li>Sync the fitbit app with your fitbit versa/ionic</li>
</ul>
<li>You should now have a button (you can find it under your apps - wipe in from right) called RING</li>
<ul>
<li>Tap on the button and wait a few seconds</li>
<li>Your phone should ring.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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Hope this works for you. Once it does, it seems like magic. You can impress a lot of friends and maybe, just maybe it will help you find your phone from under the cushions!<br />
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-27915088931261786042018-11-04T16:13:00.001-05:002018-11-09T14:15:21.650-05:00Laptops in the Classroom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Content outline:</h3>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>What do teachers have against laptops in the classroom?</li>
<li>What have been the usual responses to these points?</li>
<li>”How having the right hardware and software combined with evidence from research may strengthen the case for allowing "laptops" in the classroom?</li>
</ol>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What do teachers have against laptops in the classroom?</h2>
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There is evidence that learners are less engaged and more easily distracted when they have laptops in the classroom. They surf the web, visit social networking sites, get notifications and alerts and tend not to focus on the teacher in the front of the class (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0956797616677314" target="_blank">Ravizza et al</a>). In addition, their screens can distract other students sitting around them (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131512002254" target="_blank">Sana et al</a>). The teachers who cannot see what is on their screens wonder if the student is looking up information related to the class or engaged in irrelevant activities. To some, the vertical screens may appear to act as barriers in small learning groups. There is also the debate about typing vs. handwriting, with a recent study showing that taking handwritten notes leads to better recall compared to typing (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0956797614524581" target="_blank">Mueller and Oppenheimer</a>).<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What have been the usual responses to counter these points?</h2>
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Educators who encourage students to bring their laptops and mobile devices to class suggest that if they (the educators) prepare for this and design their lessons appropriately, the students would be engaged in the learning process and not go off surfing the web. They recommend creating exercises or using specific tools that require the students to use their devices in a meaningful manner that would enhance their learning (<a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED573973" target="_blank">Erping et al</a>). If in spite of this, the students do misuse their devices, the problem is the learners', and they would probably not learn even if they did not have laptops and smartphones in the classroom.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
But how does one counter the arguments against the vertical screen causing a distraction and being a barrier and that typing leads to poor recall? This is where the appropriate hardware and software can solve the problem.</h3>
A number of devices like the Surface Pro, iPad Pro, HP Spectre etc allow the screen to be pushed flat and to take handwritten notes with digital ink using a stylus. Software like OneNote allows collation and organization of all kinds of files (Word processing, PDFs, videos, slide decks etc) in a digital system that resembles the 3 ring binders from high school. These files can be annotated using a stylus, searched (including the handwritten portions), automatically saved and updated, stored online and accessed on multiple devices including smartphones. Combine this with apps like PomoDone which allow blocking of specific sites like Facebook or Twitter or Gmail during class and I believe we have a very convincing case for allowing these devices in the classroom.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
So how can a teacher leverage the presence of such convertible 2-in-1 laptops and OneNote in the classroom? What can they try with their lectures and slides to convince them allowing and even encouraging the use of these tools in the classroom can actually help their learners?</h3>
There are a whole host of tools to help teach and learn in the classroom like audience response systems, gamification software etc. In addition, you can employ techniques like think-pair-share and flipped classrooms to enhance the learning process and engagement without introducing laptops in the classroom. But what if you want to just take some baby steps, pilot something quickly and easily before redesigning your lesson plans?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" laptops.="" name="“bookmark5”"></a>If the teacher already has a slide deck then they can provide the slides ahead of time to the students so they can download and "print" them to OneNote.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<a 2-in-1="" a="" and="" bring="" class="" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" laptops.="" name="“bookmark5”>If the teacher already has a slide deck then they can provide the slides ahead of time to the students so they can download and " on="" onenote="" print="" their="" them="" to=""> </a>Skeletal (Partial) vs. full handouts</h4>
So how do handouts work? Won't having the handout ahead of class reduce motivation to attend class? Will they be even more inattentive since they have all the information already?<br />
The answer to these questions lies in the study that showed that when learners are provided handouts with only skeletal notes instead of fully detailed notes, they have a better recall (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4552060/" target="_blank">Prabhu et al</a>; and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6876123" target="_blank">Russell et al</a>). The students fill in the gaps in the skeletal notes as they listen to the "lecture" (Yes, yes, ideally the good teacher should not be lecturing). The students given skeletal notes have better recall of the information learned in class than those given full detailed notes. This option will require the teacher to create 2 versions of their slide deck - one with just the skeletal format for handouts ahead of class and one for presentation during class.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Active note-taking</h4>
If the teacher does not want to make the effort to create these 2 versions, they can still use their full handouts but then they need to encourage their students to take active notes in class. It has been shown that when students create their own questions about the content, write self-explanations to answer those questions and summarize what they learned, they retain information better than when they just highlight and underline (<a href="http://psi.sagepub.com/content/14/1/4" target="_blank">Dunlosky et al</a>). One well-known format of active note-taking is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=tKASLc-RJfw" target="_blank">Cornell notes</a>, and there is mixed evidence of its ability to enhance test performance.<br />
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-60795519960445989282018-04-29T11:26:00.001-04:002018-04-29T11:26:45.056-04:00And..... Office Mix is back (well almost!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The <a href="http://blogedutech.blogspot.com/2017/10/on-death-of-officemix.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> was all about the death of Office Mix and a search for alternatives. <br />
The best option was<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Create a narrated slideshow in PowerPoint</li>
<li>Save as a video</li>
<li>Upload to YouTube as an unlisted video</li>
<li>Use <a href="https://edpuzzle.com/" target="_blank">EdPuzzle</a> to embed the video and insert questions</li>
</ul>
<div>
This solution is probably the optimal one at this point as the EdPuzzle interface is quite intuitive and it has decent learning analytics. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But it seems Office Mix is being reborn as an embedded feature in PowerPoint. MS had promised as much but it is good to see that the first part of that promise is now delivered. If you have Office 365, you can enable the "recording tab" and this includes all the features that were provided by the Office Mix add-on.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://support.content.office.net/en-us/media/e30115fa-ac03-4123-a544-62973f0c5bf5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="598" height="238" src="https://support.content.office.net/en-us/media/e30115fa-ac03-4123-a544-62973f0c5bf5.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding a Recording Tab to PowerPoint</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<div>
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<div>
MS plans to <a href="https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Forms-Blog/Integrating-Microsoft-Forms-into-PowerPoint-under-development/ba-p/147204" target="_blank">support quizzes using MS forms</a> and hosting using MS Stream. </div>
<div>
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<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://gxcuf89792.i.lithium.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/27152iA706F54628CB4FA4/image-size/large?v=1.0&px=999" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="800" height="197" src="https://gxcuf89792.i.lithium.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/27152iA706F54628CB4FA4/image-size/large?v=1.0&px=999" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding quizzes in PowerPoint using MS Forms (under development)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<div>
I look forward hopefully to when these will be available and work seamlessly like Office Mix did.</div>
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-41900090410756402112017-10-23T17:50:00.000-04:002017-10-27T12:43:16.661-04:00On the Death of OfficeMix<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
OfficeMix from Microsoft is a fantastic one-stop-shopping tool for creating flipped classroom activities. It has terrific built-in features including:<br>
<br>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Slide narration</li>
<li>Slide annotation</li>
<li>Video capture with front/rear camera </li>
<li>Screen recording (for capturing online videos or software training)</li>
<li>Interspersed questions</li>
<li>Unlimited Hosting</li>
<li>Learning Analytics</li>
</ul>
<br>
I have pointed many educators towards this tool as most are already familiar with PowerPoint and can adopt this quite easily. So it was with some sadness and frustration that I read that Microsoft will turn off OfficeMix by mid-2018. The features of OfficeMix will be incorporated in PowerPoint 365 and the videos will be uploaded to Microsoft Stream which is limited to an internal-only audience.<br>
<br>
In a way, this is a blessing in disguise as it prompted me to search for alternative solutions, particularly free ones with cross-platform compatibility. This is important as OfficeMix was not an option for Mac users unless they used a tool like Virtual Box or Bootcamp to run Windows.<br>
<br>
There are several options out there but the one that I found the most customizable was to use a combination of Google Forms (with/without Google Classroom).<br>
Google Forms recently allowed the creation of a quiz with automatic feedback and scoring. You can also embed a YouTube Video into a Google Form.<br>
PowerPoint already as the ability to record the slide narration and annotation which can be saved as a video. By uploading this video to YouTube you can embed this into a Google Form. You can thus use a combination of your own videos and those available publicly on YouTube.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">You can hyperlink to any video from within the description area of each section of the form. Within these hyperlibks, you can specify start and end times on the videos to split videos into appropriate segments.<br>
<br>
<br>
The steps would thus be:<br>
<br>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Decide if there are public YouTube videos available that will meet your needs</li>
<li>If there are not, create your own video using PowerPoint narration and animation and annotation</li>
<ul>
<li>Upload your video to YouTube</li>
</ul>
<li>Grab the URL for your videos and the public YouTube videos you plan to use</li>
<li>Jot down the start and stop times of each video and add at the end of the URL</li>
<li>Create a Google Form, and create multiple sections, one of each video and related questions.</li>
<li>Insert the URLs in the description of each section create questions </li>
<li>If you want to use the entire video, you can embed it in the form using the "add video button"</li>
<li>Add questions following the video, with answer keys and points.</li>
<li>Share the form with learners.</li>
</ul>
<div>
See below for an example of one such activity that teaches these steps (the videos may not work in this embedded form). For full functionality of videos view it full screen <a href="https://goo.gl/forms/jwWONugQeFMeq3p92" target="_blank">here</a>. Try this out and let me know what you think.<br>
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<div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="1000" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegQPS1fwv4pIrOBn-EcEK9uHUHMXOoAql6BdKchRCSFWx0xg/viewform?embedded=true" width="660">Loading...</iframe>
</div>
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-66537401933414585202017-05-24T16:44:00.000-04:002017-05-24T16:52:48.644-04:00Brydge 12.3 Keyboard to convert a Surface Pro 4 into a Laptop<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Surface Pro (3/4) is one of the most popular devices. It has a large number of things going for it (listed at the bottom of this post).<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
</ul>
<div>
It does have a couple of drawbacks and a big one is its "<b>lapability</b>". This means that there are certain situations where it is difficult to find a stable way to position the Surface Pro. I personally have never had a big issue with this but I can see why people would complain. The other limitation is that the type cover's magnetic attachment to the device is not strong enough to support the weight of the Surface Pro and thus you cannot hold it just by the keyboard like another laptop.</div>
<div>
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<div>
I was very excited to see the <a href="https://www.brydgekeyboards.com/products/brydge-12-3" target="_blank">Brydge 12.3 bluetooth keyboard</a> come out for the SP3 and 4.</div>
<div>
I got it last week and while it was terrific in many ways - which have been <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/69ajiv/brydge_123_for_surface_pro_34_first_impressions/" target="_blank">outlined on Reddit by @prjkthack</a>, it too has one huge problem.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzwgJyC34fZ-qj---hJW0JKRpyKF9XdiekoH33uu5CQ6zUfnDfhgvqVKqQlh1b9P7XfDwJW4ZIwkGBWNKnjCw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The keyboard holds the SP4 by two "claws" which are covered by silicone shims to prevent scratches. The hinge is quite firm in order to support the weight of the SP4 at any angle. The problem is that when closing the SP4 all the pressure to rotate the hinge falls on the 2 points where the shims hold the screen. This causes distortion of the touchscreen. You can see this in the video above where in the lower left corner of the screen where you see yellowish vertical bands of pressure. I had a friend try this out with another SP4, changed the shims and tried it with an SP3 and it still caused the same problem. I wonder if anyone else is noticing a similar problem.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: left;">I am not sure what the long term implications of this pressure would be on the incredibly beautiful touchscreen but I am not willing to test it out.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Also as others have commented, the trackpad is not as good as the glass trackpad of the type cover - it is less responsive, the left click does not work very well and selecting a line of text is not accurate.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I tend to use the SP4 a lot in the tablet mode as I read and annotate PDFs or make storyboards for presentations in PowerPorint by writing on blank slides. For this, it is remarkably easy to just flip the type cover back under the SP4 and it immediately converts to tablet mode. With the Brydge, it is definitely more involved to take the device out of the claws and you still need to convert to tablet mode manually.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Obviously, there are folks who use the SP4 almost entirely in laptop mode and this last point may not apply to them. For me, these issues combined with the increased weight makes this Buetooth keyboard less than ideal. It is possible that with more extended use, I would get used to it but the pressure distortion of the screen scares me too much to try this for that long.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
What I love about the SP4:</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<li>One device to replace laptop and tablet</li>
<li>Light and portable</li>
<li>Superb stylus, handwriting recognition, touchscreen</li>
<li>High resolution, brilliant screen</li>
<li>Terrific practical integration of software to get work done - browser, pdf, word processing, note aking</li>
<li>The Very innovative kickstand that lets you angle the screen at any angle and still provides excellent support.</li>
<li>Type cover that is light, responsive, with a glass trackpad that has the right size, friction, accuracy, and responsiveness.</li>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-9375185241661408072016-05-16T18:15:00.001-04:002016-05-18T16:27:16.487-04:00Google Slides Q & A - Collect audience questions <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Google Slides is a very good free presentation tool. It is particularly good if you want to:<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Collaborate with multiple presenters to build a slide deck</li>
<li>Present to a worldwide audience via Google Hangout</li>
<li>Present from a mobile device like a smartphone</li>
</ol>
<div>
And now Slides has added a new feature that makes it incredibly useful for almost any presentation setting. Slides now can allow for collection of questions during a presentation. You can read more about this feature <a href="https://docs.googleblog.com/2016/05/slidesQA.html">here</a>, or watch the following video:<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/weooOudyDuc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/weooOudyDuc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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The steps are pretty straightforward:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Create/upload a presentation (you can upload a PowerPoint presentation and it will be converted to Slides format </li>
<li>At presentation time, in the upper right corner use the drop down next to "Present" and select "Use new audience Q & A.."</li>
<li>Click start new </li>
<li>The URL for the Q & A page will be displayed on your slide.</li>
<li>Users can enter questions (anonymously or not)</li>
<li>They can vote others' questions up or down</li>
<li>You can see the most popular questions and answer them during or at the end of the presentation</li>
</ol>
<div>
This is a great tool to engage your audience and make your teaching more student-centered.</div>
<div>
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<div>
I recently used this tool for the first time at a keynote I was delivering at the Massachusetts General Hospital ECOTE 16 education symposium. While using this feature was easy, I had a slight wrinkle. I like PowerPoint due to the granular control on graphics, animations and transitions and also I present using a Surface Pro that lets me write on the slides as I present. I did not want to give up on this functionality. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZgl3r-Gl56NevE4uF0RPcomTElbtJxn1a8TFAreU0tu1sK-LCkFrRDiDa7QNEPO2A3E7rLEmtiW-Yj_JsDFfuZzo35cCzKAJz8oaoLyT7nAn2x7uIUwfbZh2yv1lGeaXNuDPpn0rQg/s1600/ecote.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZgl3r-Gl56NevE4uF0RPcomTElbtJxn1a8TFAreU0tu1sK-LCkFrRDiDa7QNEPO2A3E7rLEmtiW-Yj_JsDFfuZzo35cCzKAJz8oaoLyT7nAn2x7uIUwfbZh2yv1lGeaXNuDPpn0rQg/s400/ecote.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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So I ran Google Slides in the background! I went through the present >> use audience Q/A steps, >> grabbed the URL for submitting questions and pasted this on my intro slide in PowerPoint.</div>
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It went like a charm. I got the best of both worlds -- PowerPoint on a Surface Pro and Google Slides in the background to collect questions! I was able to answer some of the most popular questions before running out of time. But I was able to review all the questions that got asked which helps me prepare for a similar talk I might give in the future.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_t3OjuHs2XRbzg1Q2ZUNk5qdTg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Here is a list</a> of all the questions which I was able to get from the "tools" menu in Google Slides.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-78461409018521981752016-05-03T15:19:00.001-04:002016-05-03T15:20:47.659-04:00The best video tributes for Mom!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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No Words. Just get out your Kleenex and watch!</div>
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-14150337245230060482016-04-30T09:35:00.000-04:002016-04-30T09:35:50.064-04:00Lotus in the Mud: Lessons for Happiness in Social Media<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7095/13840151433_62f4479ea0_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7095/13840151433_62f4479ea0_b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/abmorales77/13840151433">Abraham Morales on Flickr</a></td></tr>
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<br />
This was a pretty crazy week on Social Media with posts running the gamut from shocking and depressing to good-natured fun to "feel-good" and uplifting. Just as I felt myself feeling dragged down by the online cruelty and hate I found some fun and beautiful posts that brought hope and happiness.<br />
<br />
A lot has been written about the potential of social media for learning and education but the fear that one slip can become a huge career-changing faux pas puts many caveats on this potential. The perceived anonymity, the endless seeking of superficial likes and retweets and viral nature of the medium, have contributed to the rise of a culture of mobs and bullying by hordes.<br />
<br />
The week started with a <a href="http://nyti.ms/1N3JoDt">post on NY Times</a> about the YouTube video of two female sports journalists who fought back against their harassers. The only way to be able to watch even part of the video was by thinking about the courage of these two amazing people and ignoring the mindless, hateful comments.<br />
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And then the terrible story of a young man in a NFL draft (the lottery for a lucky few who survive the unpaid commercial exploitation that is NCAA football). While I don't know anything about this particular person - his skills, his character, his background - the story was gut-wrenching. Someone apparently got access to his Twitter account and posted a video of him smoking cannabis via a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bong">Bong</a>" device, which is something like a hookah. This was done just before the draft and led to several teams skipping him and choosing someone else. While there are many perspectives on this, the episode captures the hate, jealousy and power of the medium and the huge risks it brings.</div>
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But as the week went on, there was something better - this story via <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/krishrach/some-police-officers-got-stuck-in-a-lift-and-the-local-fire?utm_term=.feOAMygad#.jj6Ep9y5A">Buzzfeed</a>. An embarrassing photo of a firefighters rescuing a group of police officers stuck in an elevator. Apparently 12 tactical team officers got on an elevator - they exceeded the weight limit- and the elevator got stuck. The firefighters before they rescued them took a photo and there was some good-natured <a href="https://twitter.com/GreggFavre/status/725428429303123972">banter back and forth on Twitter</a>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="https://twitter.com/GreggFavre">@Gregg Favre</a> </td></tr>
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And this morning I woke up this post from the POTUS and FLOTUS helping Prince Harry increase awareness of the Invictus Games which uses the power of rehab sports to help injured servicemen/women in the road to recovery.<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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Unfortunately for you <a href="https://twitter.com/FLOTUS">@FLOTUS</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS">@POTUS</a> I wasn't alone when you sent me that video 😉 - H.<a href="https://t.co/sjfSQvkzb6">https://t.co/sjfSQvkzb6</a></div>
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/726062251354914817">April 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
<br />
It was great to see these last two posts because in a big way they helped overcome the negative feelings generated by the first two. The positive feeling helped restore faith that the medium can be used for good and fun. <br />
While we have read about studies regarding mood disorders and depression caused by Facebook it is good to think about the key factors in happiness:<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Good social relationships (belonging)</li>
<li>Spending a part of your day doing things that you are good at and passionate about (mastery) and</li>
<li>Having autonomy and freedom to make life decisions (autonomy)</li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: left;">
- and this excellent <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/04/why-so-many-smart-people-arent-happy/479832/">piece in The Atlantic</a> shared by <a href="https://twitter.com/CincyIM">Eric Warm</a> on Twitter helped start off the weekend. The article summarizes an interview with Raj Raghunathan the author of "<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781101980736">If you are so smart why aren't you happy?</a>" He advocates for the Abundance-minded approach to life vs. the Scarcity-minded approach, </div>
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"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lyon text" , "georgia" , "times" , serif; line-height: 30.0001px;">One extreme is a kind of scarcity-minded approach, that my win is going to come at somebody else's loss, which makes you engage in social comparisons. And the other view is what I would call a more abundance-oriented approach, that there's room for everybody to grow".</span></blockquote>
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<br />
He then goes on to talk about the dispassionate pursuit of passion,<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lyon text" , "georgia" , "times" , serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 30.0001px;">"...basically the concept boils down to not tethering your happiness to the achievement of outcomes"</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lyon text" , "georgia" , "times" , serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 30.0001px;">"Ultimately, what we need in order to be happy is at some level pretty simple. It requires doing something that you find meaningful, that you can kind of get lost in on a daily basis".</span> </blockquote>
To cap it all was the <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/04/29/466326635/reporting-live-from-miami-a-bunch-of-fourth-graders-tell-their-teachers-story">terrific NPR story</a> of students reporting on their teacher - and the most important rule of her class - BE KIND!<br />
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Hope the Twitterverse is listening to her!<br />
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-90954419141509780912015-11-10T22:32:00.001-05:002015-11-10T22:32:28.275-05:00Hottest stocking stuffer this holiday season?Google Cardboard, the under $10 device that allows you to experience virtual reality with you smartphone is my selection for the most popular gift this year. <div><br></div><div>Everyone who sees it gets a big smile on their face followed by, "Oh my gosh" or "How does this work?" Or "Wow!" </div><div><br></div><div>By leveraging the smartphone which already has a chip, accelerometer, GPS, hi-res display and app stores, Google has hit a home run almost like Chromecast. The price cannot hurt either. </div><div><br></div><div>So what can you do with it?</div><div>1. The Cardboard app has a some great use cases highlighted by the demo video. This is a great place to start. </div><div>2. VR reality apps like roller coaster experiences</div><div>3. The palace of Versailles is a great example of a virtual tour guide. </div><div>4. Collection of great photospheres in the updated Google Street View app I loved the Sagrada Familia and Machu Pichu. </div><div>5. The NY times app (NYT VR) with its great refugee camp story and the incredible Mini Cooper memories video. </div><div>6. Watch 360 degree videos on YouTube (Android only for now). You can find this on the #360 Video channel. The resolution of these videos is nowhere near the NYT app</div><div>7. The most crazy thing was seeing my own street in Google Streetview. It was almost like standing there on the street looking at my house but I was playing with this inside the house. The clash of RL and VR took my breath away for a second. The only thing that prevented it from being perfect was the Streetview was shot in the height of summer and right now it is the fall with almost no leaves left. </div><div><br></div><div>It was a great experience and it is just the start of the journey. Looking forward to some great applications of this technology except we will probably see a spate of 3D selfies. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-21971006551429096002015-08-01T15:03:00.003-04:002015-08-01T15:12:48.800-04:00Making sense of Wi-Fi Sense - Different implications of Home vs. Business!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
With the roll out of Windows 10, the feature that is ruffling the most feathers is Wi-Fi sense.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
What is Wi-Fi Sense? </h3>
Wi-Fi Sense lets you "automatically" share your password to access Internet using your router with a "friend". Before you get all hot and bothered, there are a few caveats:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>You have to first tell Windows 10 that you do want to share that particular router's information</li>
<li>You then have to select which group of contacts (outlook, skype or Facebook) will be able to get this information</li>
<li>The contacts have to have a Windows 10 device</li>
<li>The password that is shared is encrypted</li>
<li>The contact cannot share the connection information with their contacts without knowing the actual password - which they don't because it is encrypted.</li>
<li>They cannot connect with Wi-Fi Sense unless they themselves as shared one of their own connections.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
What does this all mean in practical terms?</h3>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Setting 1 - Home</h4>
The most likely setting is when you have a friend visiting your home and needs Internet access.</div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>
Scenario 1.</b></div>
<div>
If the following four conditions are met:</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>They have a Windows 10 device</li>
<li>They have WiFi Sense turned on and are sharing one of their own connections</li>
<li>You have WiFi Sense turned on and are sharing you own Internet connection</li>
<li>They are in your Outlook.com or Skype or FB contact lists</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
Then they will be automatically connected to the Internet without asking you for the password.</div>
<div>
They will not be able to share this information with their own contacts (unless those contacts are also your contacts in one of the three groups listed above).</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-Bi-ixG_7igLkND-v2eI5-g8SviJQqIg8xvyG0aS1mtN1cQjrVB4xM1Wxtn0EPB1KTepACaSt5kHeIgePOOzTpAGpqFYZwAHOMvpKIjUVogaiACfOwNVWTLQYgfUAydg8Tq7D3euXA/s1600/wifisense.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-Bi-ixG_7igLkND-v2eI5-g8SviJQqIg8xvyG0aS1mtN1cQjrVB4xM1Wxtn0EPB1KTepACaSt5kHeIgePOOzTpAGpqFYZwAHOMvpKIjUVogaiACfOwNVWTLQYgfUAydg8Tq7D3euXA/s640/wifisense.JPG" width="576" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WiFi Sense options in Windows 10</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thus this scenario does not pose much of a concern for me.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>
Scenario 2.</b></div>
<div>
There is the alternative scenario that is more bothersome. Suppose you did NOT turn on WiFi Sense. Then they will have to ask you for the password. Often you will just tell them the password or write it down for them. If they have a Windows 10 device, they can now share this information with their contacts. This is because they just need to know you password when they elect to share the connection information.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So my suggestion:</div>
<div>
If a friend has a Windows 10 device, do one of two things</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Turn on WiFi Sense so they get an encrypted password. The conditions listed above in Scenario 1. would still need to be met. OR a lot simpler:</li>
<li>Offer to type in the password for them (without them seeing it) on their device and select <br />'Not shared'. If they ever want to turn sharing on, they will be asked for the password which they will not have. </li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Setting 2 - Small Business</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRdSKklJtXek-1J7v7glW3asbvp9Wu64s3-SD3lCf4Xqk5PsOEW5Kbux0W7Vb2pYzWH02WIcgmiBEGrVIeUeIXHVmS3DjjCrmOxM5MQBhEg5FKi-q72ChhesDdQi8ti-w6U9TlIO25A/s1600/WiFisense+coffeeshop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRdSKklJtXek-1J7v7glW3asbvp9Wu64s3-SD3lCf4Xqk5PsOEW5Kbux0W7Vb2pYzWH02WIcgmiBEGrVIeUeIXHVmS3DjjCrmOxM5MQBhEg5FKi-q72ChhesDdQi8ti-w6U9TlIO25A/s640/WiFisense+coffeeshop.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Now take a different setting - a small business for example<br />
They could actually turn WiFi Sense on and tell people to connect with them on Facebook.<br />
If they do, they would automatically get free WiFi! <br />
This might become a great marketing tool once Windows 10 becomes more ubiquitous.<br />
Of course the person would need to have to use their own Internet access to connect to Facebook first and then they would be able to get WiFi through the small business or they could have added them on Facebook ahead of time.<br />
I am not sure if this would work right now for FB pages or just for FB friends. But with this does seem quite possible in the not too distant future.</div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-72520148398189055272015-05-31T08:50:00.002-04:002015-05-31T09:06:29.283-04:00Creating 3D models with your SmartPhone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Creating a 3D digital representation of a real life physical object seemed like an impossible task for an amateur. But now this has become quite simple for anyone with a smartphone.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
I tried my hand at this using 123D Catch (by Autodesk) to explore the ease of use, quality of output and ability to share and export. </div>
<div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.123dapp.com/catch/2015-05-30-10-19-56/4017267#" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgteASG4ltoTc5vBGGieNMVBCzWAfTDTu9gHSXNQV4RVhfSN7OlyREOXi9j3fjgTA99ttA2PN9r4GvZ-S4PEYoaQfXGByQl-OV2kxbNrtiastC9KzBtrpuk-VABKBPbwo6_mYcbFZ_EdA/s320/3d.PNG" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
Here is the <a href="http://www.123dapp.com/catch/2015-05-30-10-19-56/4017267#" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
To view the 3D rendering<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Click on the image or link above</li>
<li>On the page that loads, click on 3D view (at the bottom of the image)</li>
<li>You can use your mouse for navigation control (click on "?" for instructions or see below)</li>
</ol>
<div>
What did I learn from this exercise?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>The process was quite simple - all you need is the app and a smartphone</li>
<li>Make sure you take shots from about the same distance, with good lighting and follow the grid on the app. It is a lot like photosphere or other similar apps</li>
<li>The upload and processing takes significant amount of time. About 1-2 hours.</li>
<li>Once done, you can download the files for the model (*stl) </li>
<li>You can make your model public and share with others. You can tweet, Pin, etc. You also get an embed code which for some reason did not work for this blog post.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Next steps:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Explore use of this tool for anatomy education!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Tips for navigation</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Zoom in to the drummer - on touch pad you may have to use 2 finger slide, on mouse use scroll wheel</li>
<li>Pan to center the drummer - Shift + left click + Drag (slide on touch pad)</li>
<li>Rotate - Left Click + Drag (slide)</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-55885948739893475742015-05-28T21:33:00.001-04:002015-05-28T21:33:32.924-04:00Google Photos - Machine Learning that is Insanely Good!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Google just released the new version of Google Photos for desktop, Android and iOS and after using it for just a few minutes I am completely blown away. <br />
<br />
While it is many great features, the "search for photographs" is what took my breath away. I started off searching for "Wedding", "Beach" etc and then moved on to specific landmarks like "Taj Mahal" and "Chichentiza" and it performed remarkably well.<br />
<br />
Then I tried "cricket" and the results were stunning.<br />
Here is a sample of what it found in my photo library:<br />
<br />
1. This was not a big deal - it had tons of clues that it was a cricket match<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTwDmI3QSFvF1n8XyrOqZZYouIa5AK7gahOUhfQo2a9bFi9WS1wy49zZ-ldeNrUjJLC1fAyPVjuhMsF1mPEyUYxccy19WOW1z3oG0huxywj1yLRij741YakDcpGKO4AYO7-gTqkqfgg/s1600/Ishant+Moeen0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTwDmI3QSFvF1n8XyrOqZZYouIa5AK7gahOUhfQo2a9bFi9WS1wy49zZ-ldeNrUjJLC1fAyPVjuhMsF1mPEyUYxccy19WOW1z3oG0huxywj1yLRij741YakDcpGKO4AYO7-gTqkqfgg/s320/Ishant+Moeen0.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was from a famous test match in England</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
2. The next one was a screen capture from a smartphone of a scorecard from a cricket match<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDDjP5fY_IYDJ7HWTKV03DE7e6sUWZUs3pHKqtuVRNY_kolwe5nz22SAV5v3JA2qiB5TMasHaKXkPdaBbspOBxK3IzvFyQs72u09kYvaykVOmKCQOLk-LQFmX6WUGx2QzJkchPtcHPiw/s1600/15+-+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDDjP5fY_IYDJ7HWTKV03DE7e6sUWZUs3pHKqtuVRNY_kolwe5nz22SAV5v3JA2qiB5TMasHaKXkPdaBbspOBxK3IzvFyQs72u09kYvaykVOmKCQOLk-LQFmX6WUGx2QzJkchPtcHPiw/s320/15+-+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This had the word "Cricket" in the photo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
3. This was when I started to really be amazed. This was a screen capture I took of 3 women from Afghanistan celebrating a famous victory. The only hint here was the score at the bottom.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmymRRhyvpiSsJI52Mgk5RBENFlkV3OCSMSGvbJV8Ryw6LKsyuufTbkijXHlZzvbCy1nz6qYHmaqUkyaOYLYwyLXuYnSmHcnkAdcClmDMB1hCWTCDCHJzevbLPMZnD9qUNx0anyMw6VQ/s1600/afgan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmymRRhyvpiSsJI52Mgk5RBENFlkV3OCSMSGvbJV8Ryw6LKsyuufTbkijXHlZzvbCy1nz6qYHmaqUkyaOYLYwyLXuYnSmHcnkAdcClmDMB1hCWTCDCHJzevbLPMZnD9qUNx0anyMw6VQ/s320/afgan.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Afghan women celebrating a famous victory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
4. This one had few background clues to this being a cricket match. It is possible since I had grabbed this from the web that Google had indexed it as being a game of cricket.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_VJrG6GULvSPpgObM5YYwulVNxTGhVjRkhRbJ-4OHXbT-omgnnP9x5_V-YLksJAy4rtkwTj9Dkq4fXqKWrSu65gOlsonMji477mlvOGVxokpQwEkCbBWJnHOnukjWIr8dijAe0gDtA/s1600/cricket+in+the+snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_VJrG6GULvSPpgObM5YYwulVNxTGhVjRkhRbJ-4OHXbT-omgnnP9x5_V-YLksJAy4rtkwTj9Dkq4fXqKWrSu65gOlsonMji477mlvOGVxokpQwEkCbBWJnHOnukjWIr8dijAe0gDtA/s320/cricket+in+the+snow.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cricket match in ice and snow.<br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
5. This one was totally amazing. The FIFA trophy would make you think that Google would index this under soccer. But the 2 people flanking the trophy are 2 famous cricket players. Google recognized them and brought this up in the search for cricket. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAv9TQSOgwxfc_Hm5iccKG2QCbGYBthCddTGNHl1-xRrDGWCgI3htNkiUKUsnb06tUtFQI7aKJbcnZv47JZRVzTtSLJE6YP5mnmUAaeqCa2dkJNiQu_a1yOn1VG6b5WkRbh27KUGZIEg/s1600/14+-+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAv9TQSOgwxfc_Hm5iccKG2QCbGYBthCddTGNHl1-xRrDGWCgI3htNkiUKUsnb06tUtFQI7aKJbcnZv47JZRVzTtSLJE6YP5mnmUAaeqCa2dkJNiQu_a1yOn1VG6b5WkRbh27KUGZIEg/s320/14+-+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tendulkar and Ganguly </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
6. And lastly - this grainy shot of my TV showing a cricket match - all you can see is the helmet. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghgbOQ5roresX6JyRXBeAn1Z4EIhsToz8sUAOVdVHS1cxVigGY5JyLMAK-lfMd9IWdP_QHpiNQWpw2DVbnJJCBRmrWtj-BNQgoMOdPi7BKGlUCnY248yiiU_St15fQ6R54Coxi-W-QeQ/s1600/IMG_2179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghgbOQ5roresX6JyRXBeAn1Z4EIhsToz8sUAOVdVHS1cxVigGY5JyLMAK-lfMd9IWdP_QHpiNQWpw2DVbnJJCBRmrWtj-BNQgoMOdPi7BKGlUCnY248yiiU_St15fQ6R54Coxi-W-QeQ/s320/IMG_2179.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cricket match on TV<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Between the amazing experience with Skype translator and this one with Google Photos it seems that machine learning has reached beyond our wildest expectations.<br />
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-21991104485603221672015-05-17T11:09:00.002-04:002015-05-17T11:34:25.678-04:00Human Learning Needs in the Age of Machine Learning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yesterday I experienced quite a coincidence that helped me crystallize my thoughts regarding machine learning; as I was scanning my Twitter and Google+ timelines and my Inoreader feeds each site had a post about machine learning. This post is about 2 common questions I get asked and how these posts helped me reflect on my responses to these questions.<br />
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Due to my work with the <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/10/cleveland_clinic-ibm_watson_collaboration_highlighted_at_medical_innovation_summit.html" target="_blank">IBM Watson research team</a>, I often get asked these 2 questions by other physicians:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li> The first question is if/when computers are going to make physicians redundant. My response is that at present the vision is to create Artificial Intelligence systems that would help healthcare providers provide more efficient or better quality care and not to replace them. Clearly, no one has a crystal ball and the expert opinions run the gamut from fear of AI to tremendous optimism.</li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6OutyjgBzw6QmuxKZQKlml0N8UMUu0pi7bz6Kt7Yq4IK-Tb2JUDMHfm8b9fG11-NcOYCqgn42eWg6NbDSJYHlSHWKoDIZ7zlOFbaJGHPs47t5UArE0SLf0BuxFJMoBqEhpVlspKHgA/s1600/Hawking+AI.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6OutyjgBzw6QmuxKZQKlml0N8UMUu0pi7bz6Kt7Yq4IK-Tb2JUDMHfm8b9fG11-NcOYCqgn42eWg6NbDSJYHlSHWKoDIZ7zlOFbaJGHPs47t5UArE0SLf0BuxFJMoBqEhpVlspKHgA/s320/Hawking+AI.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/stephen-hawking-warns-artificial-intelligence-could-end-humanity-332082" target="_blank">Newsweek</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.diamandis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abundance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.diamandis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abundance.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.diamandis.com/abundance/" target="_blank">Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The second question is how to train our current generation of learners to prepare them for the future where they will work closely with artificial intelligence systems. My response here is that students need to be part of building these systems in their disciplines. Just like in high schools students take immersive experiences to learn foreign languages, our learners need to start doing electives in computer sciences and data analytics departments or companies to leverage these technologies to solve problems in their disciplines. Thus medical students should work with computer science students to use big data from wearable devices to improve health of a population for example. This will not only help solve problems but they will learn first hand the limitations of these tools and recognize these in the future rather than just blindly relying on their recommendations. </li>
</ul>
<div>
So what were the three posts?</div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
1. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Miller, Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 5.75rem;"><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/view/537366/the-machine-vision-algorithm-beating-art-historians-at-their-own-game/" target="_blank">The Machine Vision Algorithm Beating Art Historians at Their Own Game</a></span></h4>
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<div>
This is a post about a paper by researchers at Rutgers University who developed machine learning algorithms to help recognize styles and artistss of fine art paintings with a great deal of accuracy. But the most important lesson was that when the algorithms failed to identify an artist correctly, there was a lesson to be learned. There was a similarity in the paintings that was evidence of how the two artists (the correct one and the one wrongly identified by the algorithm) were similarly influenced. Something that an art historian may not even have been aware of.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/sites/default/files/images/Art%20history.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.technologyreview.com/sites/default/files/images/Art%20history.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From: MIT Technology Review (Click image for web page)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
2. <a href="http://engineering.flipboard.com/2015/05/scaling-convnets/" target="_blank">Image Scaling Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks</a></h4>
This amazing post describes in an (relatively speaking) easy to understand manner how a neural network was designed to process low resolution images to "fill in the missing pixels" to produce high-res images for Flipboard posts. The post is a great one for our high school and college math students to see how concepts that they are learning have tremendous practical implications. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://engineering.flipboard.com/assets/convnets/good.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://engineering.flipboard.com/assets/convnets/good.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy <a href="https://twitter.com/normantasfi" target="_blank">Normal Tasfi</a> via Flipboard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
3. <a href="http://a16z.com/2015/05/01/a16z-podcast-making-sense-of-big-data-machine-learning-and-deep-learning/" target="_blank">a16z Podcast: Making Sense of Big Data, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning</a></h4>
This is a terrific 27 minute podcast the quotable quote being,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Machine learning is to big data as human learning is to life experiences"</i></b></span> </blockquote>
<div>
It has a great story of how Larry Page talking with Google employees exhorts them to shorten the latency between entering a search term and getting the results. When asked if what the final goal should be, whether it should be zero, he responds, "Why should we stop at zero?". The goal should be that machines should be able to anticipate our needs not just respond to our requests. Nguyen goes on to discuss why machine learning needs to be part of every app. <br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="100" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/203500102&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="50%"></iframe></div>
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Sonal interviewing Christopher Nguyen CEO of Adatao</div>
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Given enough data, machine learning can identify patterns that humans cannot and will be able to predict problems before then happen. Thus humans know that driving a car with poor brakes and wipers, very fast in rain on a curvy road often leads to disasters. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We have an increasing torrent of data from medical literature, genomic analysis, electronic health records and wearable devices. When we start making this data available to appropriately programmed machines, patterns will emerge that may help predict or prevent heart attacks, strokes and cancers. </div>
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This is what our learners need to get comfortable with so they know when to rely on these predictions and when to spot errors and learn from them.</div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-84277808752467641162015-05-12T14:57:00.001-04:002015-05-12T14:57:11.096-04:00Microsoft Strings Together an Amazing List of Innovations!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This has been an amazing year for Microsoft. The list of hardware and software innovations that they have come out with is mind boggling. <br />
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/microsoft-surface-pro-3-1249750/review" target="_blank">Surface Pro 3</a> - probably the best single device I have owned - replaced my laptop and iPad and Android tablet in one fell swoop and added the functionality of the superb Stylus.</li>
<li><a href="https://mix.office.com/" target="_blank">Office Mix</a> - the easiest way to create content for flipped classrooms</li>
<li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us" target="_blank">HoloLens</a> - the mixed reality headset that has huge potential in education</li>
<li><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/21/microsoft-reveals-the-surface-hub/" target="_blank">Surface Hub</a> - Large "Smartboard" with video conferencing, OneNote and motion sensing built in.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-band" target="_blank">Microsoft Ban</a>d - for $200 a fitness tracker with ability to read notifications, tweets, text messages, email, calendar alerts, heart rate monitor, GPS etc.</li>
<li>Windows 10 with <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-microsoft-edge-pc" target="_blank">Microsoft Edge</a> - a browser that lets you annotate the web</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2921129/skypes-amazing-real-time-translator-preview-now-available-to-all.html" target="_blank">Skype Translator</a> (in Preview) - instant translation between English, Spanish, Mandarin, Italian and other languages coming soon.</li>
</ol>
<div>
On top of this making all of Office apps available on both iOS and Android and also allowing developers to quickly convert their iOS and Android apps for Windows is a big shift in MS philosophy.</div>
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Competition is great for consumers and I am glad MS is back in the fray in a big way!</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4S7anjMUVbA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4S7anjMUVbA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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HoloLens for Anatomy Education</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/frvFtS6sm3k/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/frvFtS6sm3k?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />Office Mix Video</div>
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<br /><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YjVLrkOelLI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YjVLrkOelLI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Surface Hub</div>
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<a href="http://res1.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/windows/main/7aa95150-1947-41be-90fa-8561b87338b8_65.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://res1.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/windows/main/7aa95150-1947-41be-90fa-8561b87338b8_65.png" height="125" width="320" /></a></div>
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Web Note feature of Microsoft Edge Browser</div>
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-11517739519218506712015-04-25T12:03:00.000-04:002015-04-25T12:03:44.136-04:00A Personal Learning Network becomes a Print Journal Issue: Why Academics Really use Twitter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Social Media allows a motivated and engaged learner to build connections that can enhance lifelong learning. The connections become a learners Personal Learning Network or PLN. The ability of social media to help a learner find and connect with the right people that might be otherwise impossible to "meet" in real life is one of its huge potential advantages.<br />
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This can be a difficult concept to convey to someone who may have a very negative attitude of Twitter. One can hardly blame them for thinking that Twitter is a time waster, that there is a huge noise to signal ratio with very little tangible benefit.<br />
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A famous <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/online-collaboration-scientists-and-the-social-network-1.15711" target="_blank">Nature</a> study showed that very few academics use Twitter compared to sites like Google Scholar. This led to a spoof by PhD Comics on "Why Academics Really use Twitter". This is quite funny maybe because it has an element of truth for those who use Twitter. At the same time infographics like this might unintentionally dissuade people from trying out Twitter as it may reinforce their beliefs about its lack of usefulness.<br />
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<a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd082014s.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd082014s.gif" height="640" width="531" /></a></div>
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Now we have a great example of how a PLN created on Twitter led to an entire issue of a print journal. The credit goes to Margaret Chisholm who was the editor of the special issue of "International Review of Psychiatry" and put together the issue with the help of a group of authors who mostly got to know each other first on Twitter and are part of a large PLN of health care social media users.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPT1yBm6rf82BTYMHZp_iYk-R_7T_aDuIGTUKRXNaS3-WC9RMSewqJYN2t-d2mTPSGtHLMMo2gx1VltWM1JntD-rkO6-YXMVTt6J68Cz-kZNBIgXSRex6J9ZYtphCcaJFRb3wCcDGf8w/s1600/some+twitter+volume.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPT1yBm6rf82BTYMHZp_iYk-R_7T_aDuIGTUKRXNaS3-WC9RMSewqJYN2t-d2mTPSGtHLMMo2gx1VltWM1JntD-rkO6-YXMVTt6J68Cz-kZNBIgXSRex6J9ZYtphCcaJFRb3wCcDGf8w/s1600/some+twitter+volume.PNG" height="121" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4zZm5M4Uj1mnsVudfEgQ_767cPvvSwwegM81KdNzCY1MwyVZHtSwKhoHXCkkq-O4B6rSIizUw-rsbmMADpyVOowrINJMOun7v0_Qg4p6nDTFAABYpar20jG0zeYUij_ilzAPWb0veNw/s1600/IRP+TOC.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4zZm5M4Uj1mnsVudfEgQ_767cPvvSwwegM81KdNzCY1MwyVZHtSwKhoHXCkkq-O4B6rSIizUw-rsbmMADpyVOowrINJMOun7v0_Qg4p6nDTFAABYpar20jG0zeYUij_ilzAPWb0veNw/s1600/IRP+TOC.PNG" height="640" width="334" /></a></div>
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Granted, the special issue was regarding the use of Social Media but it could well have been any other topic in biomedical sciences where the scientists engage in social media. This special issue of a print journal may be an excellent showpiece of the huge potential benefit of social media for academics - to create a PLN for lifelong learning.<br />
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-57763325153640142392015-03-29T20:07:00.002-04:002015-03-29T20:40:33.318-04:00Timelines to represent the history of medicine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Those who do not study history are condemned to repeat it"<br />
<br />
Understanding the history is critical to comprehending the current status of any political situation. Thus one cannot even being to come to grips with the situation in the Middle East or in Nigeria without knowing how we got here.<br />
<br />
The same holds true for medicine. Using history helps teach our students about various complex therapies like antibiotics, anti-lipid medications etc.<br />
<br />
Thus whenever there is a situation what is difficult to grasp, studying the history of how we got here helps to understand it. The fact that >90 years after the discovery of insulin by Banting and Bates this critical medication is still not available off patent is almost unbelievable.<br />
<br />
An <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1408544" target="_blank">article in the NEJM highlights</a> this by tracing the history of the various forms of insulin to clarify the current situation.<br />
<br />
A timeline makes this easier to follow. Making the timeline took less than 5 min on a free tool called Dipity. It allows for addition of images or video and can be shared to encourage discussion. <br />
Explore the timeline embedded below by clicking on blurbs or zooming in and out.<br />
<div class="dipity_embed" style="width: 600px;">
<iframe height="400" src="http://www.dipity.com/mehtan/Insulin-History/?mode=embed&z=0#tl" style="border: 1px solid #CCC;" width="600"></iframe><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,sans; font-size: 13px; margin: 0; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.dipity.com/mehtan/Insulin-History/">Insulin History</a> on <a href="http://www.dipity.com/">Dipity</a>.</div>
</div>
<br />
Getting students to work collaboratively to create timelines of major therapeutic advances in key areas of medicine can help them build a deeper understanding of the subject. It can help them identify potential areas for research and quickly digest newer advances as they occur, by recognizing their place in history. <br />
<br />
We know that we learn by doing, and thus, we should encourage students to create these timelines rather than just view timelines created by others.</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-63165100163747346042014-12-26T13:14:00.001-05:002014-12-26T13:14:28.915-05:00How "The Interview" hack helped Google show off its capabilities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As 2014 draws to a close, "The Interview" became the most talked about movie of the year. While many people may have otherwise ignored the Seth Rogen low-brow comedy, the Sony hack made it a must-watch movie. <br />
<br />
An unexpected fall out the event was the release of the movie on online platforms after several theater chains refused to show the movie due to safety concerns.<br />
<br />
For Google agreeing to show the movie was probably a risk-reward proposition. Clearly there was some risk of cyberattacks, and of not being able to provide a smooth experience for what was expected to be a massive demand. The potential reward was to expose the audience to a somewhat less used path for accessing movies and for providing producers with one more option to release content.<br />
<br />
While several of the online sites had some problems, it appears that Google came out unscathed providing a very smooth experience. In our case, with a large number of people in the house over the holidays and everything closed for Christmas, we bowed to popular opinion and decided to watch the movie. It was a completely seamless experience. The fact that this experience involved using several devices and apps made it even more remarkable.<br />
<br />
Let me describe the steps I took to access the movie. There are many options, and there may be much simpler ones depending on your devices and platforms.<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>We have an LG SmartTV</li>
<li>A Chromecast device</li>
<li>iPhone 5</li>
<li>Win 8.1 Surface device.</li>
</ol>
<div>
So this is how we connected</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>On the Surface went to Google Play and used Google Wallet to rent the movie. Once rented, you have to start viewing within 30 days and once started, complete watching within 48 hours</li>
<li>On the iPhone, installed the Google Play for Movies and TV app</li>
<li>As soon as I logged into it, the movie I had purchased in step 1 showed up in My Movies</li>
<li>Start the movie and chromecasted it to the TV</li>
</ol>
<div>
The whole thing worked without a single hitch. The quality of the stream was superb and there was no issue with loading, buffering etc for the HD version. </div>
</div>
<div>
At the end of the day I was impressed at how well it worked and once set up the technology was invisible, and everyone could focus on the movie uninterrupted. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is quite possible that more people will be open to using Google Play to watch movies and TV shows. The great thing is that you can go to a friend's place and start chromecast movies from your library easily. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-26918491620584114032014-11-04T15:34:00.001-05:002014-11-04T15:34:57.492-05:00Still waiting for your Gmail Inbox invite? - Make your Outlook work like the Gmail Inbox!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The new "Inbox by Gmail" is a terrific way to help manage your email. For a long time, we have known how to do this but Inbox is designed to support that workflow.<br />
<br />
What is the workflow?<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Do not open a message unless you are ready to work on it</li>
<li>Do not close a message without doing something with it</li>
<li>Use the following 4D actions</li>
<ul>
<li>Delete it</li>
<li>Defer it</li>
<li>Delegate it</li>
<li>Do it </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
The problem with traditional emails is that we often cannot decide whether we need to keep an e-mail or delete it and this means we err on the side of caution and not delete the email. This leads to a huge list of opened messages in the inbox causing a lot of stress.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How does the Inbox handle this?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It has tools for each of these actions.</div>
<div>
Thus you can do what is needed and "done" the message</div>
<div>
Or you can snooze the message and thus defer it</div>
<div>
Or you can forward the message (like any email client) and thus delegate it</div>
<div>
But the best part is that you can pin the message - which leaves it in the Inbox.</div>
<div>
If you Done a message, it is not deleted but archived and thus you don't have to agonize over this delete/don't delete decision. You can "Done" a message with confidence knowing you can find it again if needed using the Gmail search.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I love the inbox workflow and managed to clean up my entire gmail with this tool very quickly!</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JF_d_uXU5mjPY4IBRQdu264bLx339GpWYy7yZxSJwRl3huHqpsMe2d7gCTwgCHL74UphPv9rgjBgmrJUOCdl2-JQTYI4eMbl-ocjTszl2Tf1N_d4N4wgktucZbc4jKlvIgQ4b7HVng/s1600/inbox.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JF_d_uXU5mjPY4IBRQdu264bLx339GpWYy7yZxSJwRl3huHqpsMe2d7gCTwgCHL74UphPv9rgjBgmrJUOCdl2-JQTYI4eMbl-ocjTszl2Tf1N_d4N4wgktucZbc4jKlvIgQ4b7HVng/s1600/inbox.PNG" height="243" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Completely Empty Gmail Inbox!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
If you use Outlook as your enterprise e-mail client you can do all these things and set up the right workflow.</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
The key step is: Create a "Search Folder" that is for mail that is "Unread or Marked for Follow up"</h3>
<div>
This is your default view of the inbox.</div>
<div>
You can do all the key actions as follows:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Delete it - delete the email if you wont need it again</li>
<li>Defer it - use a flag and by right clicking it set it for appropriate time in future</li>
<li>Delegate it - forward to someone (or change to task for that person)</li>
<li>Do it - as usual</li>
<li><b>Pin it - when you flag a message it will be pinned in this Search folder view</b></li>
<li><b>If you open a message and do nothing - it is equivalent to "done"</b> as it will drop out of the "Search Folder" view and still be available by searching the inbox.</li>
<li>You can drag a message to the calendar if you want to convert to a calendar appointment (Which you can't do yet with the Gmail Inbox)</li>
</ul>
<div>
For me at least this method really works and keeps the most important messages in my default view and keeps me organized.</div>
</div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-14825792733204039072014-10-31T08:58:00.000-04:002014-10-31T09:06:13.887-04:00Share your availability for specific dates to meeting organizer (Applies to Microsoft Outlook)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Do you ever get an e-mail from someone who is trying to arrange a meeting/conference call with multiple people who are at different organizations or institutions? It often goes something like this, "<i>Can you give me your availability for these dates or date range</i>?" <br />
<br />
If they were within your organization, you would just tell them to schedule using your Enterprise Microsoft Outlook. Often people are unaware that they can schedule meetings like this, or are hesitant to do so. They may also be uncertain if your Outlook calendar is up to date.<br />
<br />
But what if the person organizing the meeting or conference call does not have access to your Outlook calendar? They may use a variety of tools like Doodle or Calendly etc but these require you a follow a link and fill out multiple check boxes while viewing your calendar in another window. Quite painful and time-consuming. You have a couple of easier options:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Publish your Outlook calendar to the Web or</li>
<li>Sync it with a Google Calendar that you can share with someone</li>
</ul>
<div>
But both these options may have security or privacy risks particularly if you put sensitive information into your calendar or work at a health care facility and have to abide by HIPAA Privacy rules.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
e-mail your calendar</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-001/files/735/322/ZA103003148.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-001/files/735/322/ZA103003148.png" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A simple option for this problem is to e-mail your availability for the specific date range using the Outlook e-mail calendar functionality. This is super simple and something folks may not be aware of. The steps are explained <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/outlook-help/send-an-outlook-calendar-in-an-email-message-HA102840072.aspx" target="_blank">here by Microsoft</a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The recipient gets an e-mail that looks like this:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOesYOVLa2Oqzom_czREULqEOTqjdz-iGZf_uOYQws-d5t1IFgpjxta7De-l1u-ZT9gdp5zXd-Ajfou5gSWcYvpvEh68KWU8X-34JGVo7bZtbGHbQJvBMY_jbLghz3cfobJcdGU7OhA/s1600/email+calendar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOesYOVLa2Oqzom_czREULqEOTqjdz-iGZf_uOYQws-d5t1IFgpjxta7De-l1u-ZT9gdp5zXd-Ajfou5gSWcYvpvEh68KWU8X-34JGVo7bZtbGHbQJvBMY_jbLghz3cfobJcdGU7OhA/s1600/email+calendar.png" height="640" width="638" /></a></div>
<div>
Try it the next time you get a message asking for your availability. It will save you a lot of email and phone tag and your colleagues will appreciate it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The main risk is that if they don't schedule something soon, the calendar you sent them might be out of date.</div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-87763298825404721212014-10-29T20:56:00.001-04:002014-10-29T21:01:30.463-04:00Google's New Bookmark Manager vs. Diigo Chrome Extension<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Google just released the <a href="http://lifehacker.com/google-releases-the-new-chrome-bookmark-manager-extensi-1652494205" target="_blank">Bookmark Manager extension</a> for Chrome.<br />
It has the following features:<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>One Click Save</li>
<li>Better organization</li>
<li>Better search of bookmarks</li>
<li>Sharing of bookmarks</li>
<li>Add notes to the bookmark</li>
<li>Nice visual interface - organized as cards.</li>
</ol>
The best part of the new manager is that it would work across all device on the Chrome browser.<br />
<br />
While these are some good features, it would not convince me to switch from my favorite social bookmarking tool - <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/diigo-web-collector-captu/oojbgadfejifecebmdnhhkbhdjaphole" target="_blank">Diigo</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAkUeCQ3sc135cCFK2X_uefV2EV-0xag5tvEp6B812dvJDKd8Je3LUDvJHsvBiqlEJVxZYEbNxvf65X7rr76BAufkerLDqlklHz_vOEwQ_7hJ4Lp4Hj8e7RDRs1UF6e7QAU9RKLYX4w/s1600/Diigo.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAkUeCQ3sc135cCFK2X_uefV2EV-0xag5tvEp6B812dvJDKd8Je3LUDvJHsvBiqlEJVxZYEbNxvf65X7rr76BAufkerLDqlklHz_vOEwQ_7hJ4Lp4Hj8e7RDRs1UF6e7QAU9RKLYX4w/s1600/Diigo.PNG" height="286" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Search for Google Bookmarks Manager shows my Diigo Bookmark in right column.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Diigo has some truly amazing features that make it indispensable.<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Ability to organize by lists, tags</li>
<li>Annotate a web page with highlights and notes</li>
<li>Share a link to the annotate web page so anyone who sees that link will see the annotations even if they don't have Diigo installed. Try <a href="https://diigo.com/06jb8b" target="_blank">this link</a> to see the lifehacker page annotated with yellow highlights. (see pic below)</li>
<li>Ability to auto-search through the Diigo library even when doing an organic Google Search. If any of the keywords in the search are in one of your bookmark titles or annotations, that bookmark will be listed to the right of the organic search results. (See pic above)</li>
<li>Very powerful social bookmarking features </li>
</ol>
<div>
The only (minor) drawback is that you need to select the appropriate tools for your mobile device. Diigo does have <a href="https://www.diigo.com/tools" target="_blank">specific tools for each OS</a> (iOS and Android). Also if you don't use Chrome as your default desktop browser, Diigo has toolbars for most popular browsers. </div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWd6ZxCoGt0BB6Ak-5HooOgf7WZUyJKKYinj_TIOm1Ey00YmhmKu614B9wm-nk_3VraV_oBJ0jvDjv24_-x0y6VoOryJJqbCN1ZNEy2vPUbiv_AlHOnhIYLNBT2i49KdMAhBjNjPeD4Q/s1600/digo+annotation.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWd6ZxCoGt0BB6Ak-5HooOgf7WZUyJKKYinj_TIOm1Ey00YmhmKu614B9wm-nk_3VraV_oBJ0jvDjv24_-x0y6VoOryJJqbCN1ZNEy2vPUbiv_AlHOnhIYLNBT2i49KdMAhBjNjPeD4Q/s1600/digo+annotation.PNG" height="298" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diigo lets you annotate a web page and share a link to it that preserves the annotations<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br /></div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-28187850903421999372014-10-21T22:23:00.004-04:002014-10-29T21:13:30.436-04:00A Lesson Plan for a Mobile Learning Workshop <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suppose you wanted to do a short workshop for educators on using mobile devices in their teaching.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I did a short workshop on this topic recently and here is a lesson plan that I used.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCQPorsyM8mzeuL1l46KENqUpffM-RItiuHlExqsWkGz5S_tlOdzNFvpYBFP8Dk-lAPF7P5Dee8wjFcQ3HHxHRNq54sljGGCVsp0n0fFf9JvtfFZYXHMdii3jBeqOM3OUuIffwKRZLw/s1600/IMG_3889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCQPorsyM8mzeuL1l46KENqUpffM-RItiuHlExqsWkGz5S_tlOdzNFvpYBFP8Dk-lAPF7P5Dee8wjFcQ3HHxHRNq54sljGGCVsp0n0fFf9JvtfFZYXHMdii3jBeqOM3OUuIffwKRZLw/s1600/IMG_3889.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Workshop participants scanning QR codes to read material for Socrative Quiz.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Get everyone to download a QR code reader</li>
<ol>
<li>I like i-nigma which is one of the fastest readers, and keeps a history of codes scanned</li>
</ol>
<li>Discuss how to create content that automatically presents appropriately based on detected screen sizes - various options like</li>
<ol>
<li>Google Docs for text</li>
<li>Google Forms to survey, quizzes etc.</li>
<li>Blogger</li>
<li>Google Sites</li>
</ol>
<li>Have the participants test their QR code reader with QR codes linked to this blog post. They can favorite this on i-nigma so they can find this again (no need for handouts)</li>
<li>QR code treasure hunt</li>
<ol>
<li>Create 5 Google docs with content on 5 topics</li>
<li>Create QR Codes for each of these pages. I like <a href="http://qrstuff.com/">QRstuff.com</a> but there are many other options.</li>
<li>Print out the QR codes each on a separate sheet of paper and paste these around the room on the walls</li>
<li>Give participants enough time to go around and scan the codes and read the content</li>
</ol>
<li>Mobile quiz</li>
<ol>
<li>Create a Quiz using <a href="http://socrative.com/">Socrative.com</a></li>
<li>Divide the group into teams </li>
<li>Launch your quiz in Space Race mode with groups</li>
<li>Have them scan a QR code to get to <a href="http://b.socrative.com/login/student/">http://b.socrative.com/login/student/</a> </li>
<li>Enter your room number</li>
<li>Have them select their group color</li>
<li>Student paced quiz on content presented in QR scavenger hunt</li>
</ol>
<li>Discuss uses of Socrative in the classroom</li>
<ol>
<li>Compare/contrast with PollEV</li>
<li>Other options - NearPod, Kahoot</li>
</ol>
<li>Discuss other applications of mobile devices</li>
<ol>
<li>Flashcards - Quizlet, Anki</li>
<li><div>
Consuming /creating content</div>
</li>
<ol>
<li><div>
Videos</div>
</li>
<li><div>
Podcasts</div>
</li>
<li><div>
Books/text</div>
</li>
</ol>
<li><div>
Social Media </div>
</li>
</ol>
<ol>
</ol>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-8338708070907719522014-10-16T08:47:00.000-04:002014-10-29T13:17:42.215-04:00Ebola - do we need economists and not medical scientists making decisions? Huge discrepancies between scientists and industry responses.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">The 2 flights that the second health care worker made to and from Dallas to Cleveland have already caused ripple effects which are probably driven not by medical science but by fear and possibly concern about financial impact.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>The discrepancies between decisions made by medical scientist and individual businesses are striking</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>CDC</b> - ok to fly with fever of 99.5 even though you treated patient with Ebola</span><br />
vs.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>Airline</b>- take the plane off for decontamination</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>CDC</b> - you can't get Ebola from someone who is not symptomatic.</span><br />
vs.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>Hospitals</b> - nurses who flew on same flight as recent case before she got low grade fever are on paid leave.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b>Schools</b> - closed for decontamination because a teacher was on same flight that CDC ok'ed her to fly on.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Till this panic settles down, we need protocols in place to divert suspects away from the public and "regular" healthcare intake channels.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">The psychological impact of a potential patient walking through the hospital to seek out care - touching door knobs, counters, etc and "exposing" tens of people and healthcare workers will be huge and the potential financial impact quite terrible as the hospital in Dallas is finding out. Yes, medical science tells us that person will likely not be infectious and it is OK for them to seek care using regular channels but once we have a single case like that, the mass fear will take over. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Hopefully we don't get another traveler with Ebola coming into the USA but this will likely happen. We hopefully will not make the same mistakes again that were made in the Dallas ER, but that assumes that every healthcare worker in the country is trained and follows the right steps which is highly improbable.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b>We need to keep our hospitals working smoothly!</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><span style="background-color: white;">We need to put up signs at every healthcare facility entrance that diverts suspected (high-risk) cases to dedicated triage hot lines. This will reassure the public that it is safe to use the hospitals for their non-Ebola care.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbE4md30IpljhvzscOVm5UoRPITOZytEFXKAe0ZsBRbf0Ect79Tu1bG4IExndveIthZdbtmddA87-OvjwXhpJBiACrbgdUhxe2y7fxRXynGfwCYjh1dByyxDrvV0xuae6hetccH6q9gQ/s1600/EBV2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbE4md30IpljhvzscOVm5UoRPITOZytEFXKAe0ZsBRbf0Ect79Tu1bG4IExndveIthZdbtmddA87-OvjwXhpJBiACrbgdUhxe2y7fxRXynGfwCYjh1dByyxDrvV0xuae6hetccH6q9gQ/s1600/EBV2.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-77113764255392264072014-10-15T20:17:00.003-04:002014-10-15T21:00:40.444-04:00Protect your health care worker - a sign at every hospital entrance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I posted earlier regarding the need for an airport program for patients traveling from West Africa. It took a few days after the first case in Dallas for the authorities to put something like that in place. <br />
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That post also noted the lack of preparedness of the US health care institutions to combat Ebola at this time. The sense of urgency has just not been there. Till there is excellent awareness and training in place there is a need to divert any suspected Ebola case away from the regular intake process in hospitals. Otherwise we will have many more mishaps like the ones in Dallas.<br />
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One solution is to have a sign at every hospital entrance that<br />
1. Tells person traveling from these countries<br />
2. Who has the classic symptoms<br />
3. To sanitize hands and<br />
4. Call a dedicated triage phone line.<br />
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Then the appropriate protocols can be invoked.<br />
We need to prevent every preventable exposure that we can. <br />
Every case brings broadening circles fear, monitoring, and disruption that will cause tremendous damage to the economy and the healthcare system at the least and might even save some lives.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sign for every hospital entrance</td></tr>
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-29067353024615614842014-10-04T09:37:00.004-04:002014-10-04T09:49:00.147-04:00You can lead the horse to the water.... Role of curiosity in learning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I saw this <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/curiosity-prepares-the-brain-for-better-learning/" target="_blank">report in Scientific American</a> on the role of curiosity in learning. In a small study, the researchers found how generating curiosity appears to prime the brain for learning. <br />
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This provides some evidence for how most educators develop their lesson plans. One framework is Gagne's 9 events of instruction. The first step is to "Gain Attention".<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://tlweb.latrobe.edu.au/education/learning-materials/lesson-planning/images/gagne-9steps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://tlweb.latrobe.edu.au/education/learning-materials/lesson-planning/images/gagne-9steps.jpg" height="252" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linked to - http://tlweb.latrobe.edu.au/education/learning-materials/lesson-planning/lessonplanning080.html</td></tr>
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Maybe we should relabel this to "Generate Curiosity"?<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">After all one can lead a horse to the water but we can't make it drink; unless we make it thirsty first!</span></blockquote>
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Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433794673211473196.post-30118869026670072872014-10-03T09:00:00.000-04:002014-10-04T09:48:16.256-04:00The US Ebola Approach - what we are missing?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/01/353045095/on-the-alert-for-ebola-texas-hospital-still-missed-first-case" target="_blank">This story on NPR</a> highlights the mishandling of the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the USA in spite of "training" and information efforts. Numerous officials have claimed that the course of Ebola in the USA will be very different as it will be easy to contain due to better health care facilities and literacy. The problem is that the focus has been on containment after the fact rather than limiting the early exposure. <br />
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We have known for a long time that the current scenario of an asymptomatic person from West Africa entering the USA and then developing symptoms was quite likely to happen. Let us look at our current approach to this scenario happening and what we could do differently.<br />
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Hospitals are training their staff to ask about travel history and symptoms and then invoke the appropriate protocols using checklists. This approach does not address a potential much earlier point of intervention that would decrease exposure and limit the chaos. <br />
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The current approach requires a patient who has traveled to the US from West Africa who gets symptoms to actually get to hospital and navigate the intake process to make it to a provider who may still fail to do the right thing as happened in this first case. Along the way the patient may use a cab or public transport, touch door knobs, counter tops and railings and be in physical contact with several people. While it is not easy to spread Ebola by contact (usually the patient would have to be quite sick) just the fear of possible transmission and the amount of effort it would entail to track down people at real risk vs those with just insignificant contact would be huge and cripple the system.<br />
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This person if he develops symptoms, since he came from West Africa, has only one fear dominating his mind, "Do I have Ebola?" The approach needs to be to have this person stay in his hotel room or home and call a dedicated hotline that is manned by a trained person who can invoke the appropriate protocol.<br />
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How can we make this happen? The process needs to start at the international airport where a person first lands. <br />
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<li>There should be signage at the airport informing travelers from West Africa about the hotline if they get symptoms. They could pick up a sticky note with the phone number and paste it to their passport.</li>
<li>Each person from West Africa should be given a simple thermometer at entry to the US.</li>
<li>They should be entered into a database </li>
<li>They should be required to check their temperature each day and report it via a phone line/text/website that enters it into this database.</li>
<li>The hotline phone number should be imprinted on the thermometer cover</li>
<li>If they fail to enter the temperature, it should trigger someone should contact them.</li>
<li>If their temperature is >threshold someone should contact them to ensure that they called the hotline.</li>
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This seems to be common sense but we are not doing this. How do we know this? A recent report by CNN highlights the abject failure of communication at the airport where 3 reporters returning from West Africa got three completely different experiences when they mentioned where they were coming from. The agents were not aware of or could not locate the information regarding how to handle these travelers.</div>
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If somehow this step does not work, and the person does end up at a healthcare facility with symptoms without calling the hotline, we need to intervene before they have to navigate the intake process like any other patient.</div>
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<li>Every entrance needs to have signage regarding steps to follow for a traveler from these countries with symptoms</li>
<li>It should have a touchless skin sanitizer next to the signage</li>
<li>After using it, the person should be able to use a phone with a speed dial to a trained infection control staff who would direct the patient to appropriate location limiting exposure to others.</li>
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Just the one case of the unfortunate Mr. Ducan has highlighted the tremendous effort that it will take to monitor and keep quarantined his approximately 100 contacts. As more of these cases happen, we will be left with the scenario of a large number of healthcare workers exposed and quarantined. This will cause a huge burden on our already fragile health care system. <br />
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We need to adopt an approach of earlier intervention. The only risk of such an approach is causing anxiety but it has the potential of preventing exposure of large number of people. We had many months to prepare for this. We have a short window when such an approach might still work. Now that the danger is clear and present, can we do this right?</div>
Neil Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14898382215427962801noreply@blogger.com0