VirtualOT

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Australia
I am an Australian occupational therapist, educator and researcher. I have worked as an OT in mental health, vocational rehabilitation and a private surgical hospital. I am passionate using online technology to enhance the knowledge and growth of the occupational therapy profession. In my PhD research I am looking at the role of online technologies in information management and knowledge transfer in occupational therapy. Views expressed and stories shared on this blog are my opinion and do not represent views of my employer or professional registration body.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

STUDY FINDS LINK BETWEEN FACEBOOK USE, LOWER GRADES IN COLLEGE

SAN DIEGO – College students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages than students who have not signed up for the social networking website, according to a pilot study at one university.

However, more than three-quarters of Facebook users claimed that their use of the social networking site didn’t interfere with their studies.

“We can’t say that use of Facebook leads to lower grades and less studying – but we did find a relationship there,” said Aryn Karpinski, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in education at Ohio State University.

Click on this link to read the whole article

iBrain


I am about to buy the book iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan. I think it is very important the occupational therapists stay up to date with the impact of the digital world on brain development and the subsequent impact on basic skills such as human interaction. Has anyone else read this book yet?

Motorcyle riding with paraplegia

Thanks Anna for sending me this link, it is a great example of getting around impairment and limitation to get on with doing what you love doing!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Making Facebook accessible

Thanks to Twitter I caught this link from Will Wade, thanks Will!

Carl Augusto is the President and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that expands possibilities for people with vision loss. One of AFB's priorities is broadening access to technology, and AFB is working together with Facebook to make the site more accessible and user-friendly for people who are blind or visually impaired.


See this link for the full story

Advances in Online Care and Telehealth

This post by DAVID C. KIBBE on the Health Care Blog talks about a recent symposium on Online Care in Hawaii, where two Family Physicians and a primary care Internist participated in a panel in which they described their experiences with Online Care and Telehealth.

Visit this link to read the full article.

How are we going in occupational therapy in online consulting? Where is it happening and who is doing it? Or is this level of application of technology reserved purely for medicine?

Monday, April 6, 2009

Better Health Website widget

I'm adding the Better Health Website widget to the side of the blog tonight... is it useful?

My slideshare uploads