School of Nursing: Connections

Taking the leap into cyberspace

Jim Bush

When Associate Professor Jim Bush signed up for the weeklong SONNETS workshop last June, he knew little or nothing about web-based instruction.

"This was a very timely opportunity," Bush explains, commending Dean Woods for scheduling the workshop for the first week after school was out. "Having one intense week to really concentrate on using technology in my course helped a lot." Apparently so. In the weeks following, Bush created a class syllabus with links to weekly course objectives and other Healthlinks sites, as well as self-checking practice quizzes for his students. He also designed his own web page after visiting other sites for ideas.

Bush recalls the biggest challenge as learning to use "Dreamweaver," a "wysiwyg" ("what-you-see-is-what-you-get") html authoring tool. "I worked a few hours, took a break, then worked some more," Bush explains. He credits his success to not allowing himself to become distracted during the learning process, and to taking advantage of the assistance available from the School’s liaisons in the Health Sciences Library.

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