- Email: [email protected]
The Electronic Portfolio in Dietetics Education: A Case Study
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7
POSTER SESSION: PROFESSIONAL SKILLS; NUTRITION ASSESSMENT; MEDICAL NUTRITION THERAPY Creating a Website (Food Flash) Focused on the Use of Photography as an International Learning Tool for Nutrition Students
Dietetic Internship Information Management and Technology Training at a Federal Agency: Skills to Advance Practicing Dietitians into the 21st Century
Author(s): K. Secinaro,1 S. Kannan,1 L. Kinney2; 1School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Nutrition Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 2Hospitality and Tourism, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Author(s): A. Leone,1 P. Fatzinger McShane,1 J. Haven,2 P. Britten2; 1 Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, 2USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Alexandria, VA
Learning Outcome: To provide an opportunity for nutrition students to learn about food culture and international nutrition through the use of photography.
Learning Outcome: To describe intern training in technology designed to enhance understanding of database use and function.
Visual learning is a style which emphasizes learning from pictures, videos, and demonstrations. The goal of this project was to create a website (Food Flash) focused on the use of photography as a learning tool for students participating in abroad programs. Photography was used to assess portion sizes in eateries across France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Pictures were accompanied by observation notes. Items photographed included all foods eaten while abroad at restaurants, bakeries, cafe´s, sandwich shops, farmer’s markets and fast food chains. Pictures were organized into a slideshow using Photobucket according to the following information: name and description of food, food category, location, type of eatery, and evaluation of portion size. Pictures for the slideshow were chosen based on clarity of the picture and how well each visually demonstrated portion size. A website, Food Flash, was created to display this slideshow and those created by future students. Food Flash represents one way to enhance the cultural competencies of nutrition students and practicing dietitians through the use of photography. The technological basis for this project makes it easily accessible to all students interested in learning about food culture and international nutrition, while the visual emphasis breaks down language barriers and familiarizes students with food and nutrition across the globe.
Information management and technology skill mastery are critical for Registered Dietitian success as the world moves into the 21st century and a Web 2.0 environment. The public increasingly utilizes social media and other Internet applications as its information source. One dietetic internship program introduced a database management project through its information technology management rotation to enhance intern skills in and understanding of the “backside” of webbased sites. In one setting, food composition data from several federal agencies are gathered and reformatted in order to disseminate information via Internet-based interactive tools to the public. Nutritional information is generally based upon 100 grams of food product. Information on a per portion basis must be calculated using the gram weight of the portion. Computer software can handle the mathematical components, but a skilled person is needed to evaluate, determine consistency of the values, and merge them into a final data set to support web-based applications. Food products may have multiple portion sizes, which require multiple computations with multiple data entries. Since the Internet-based web tool may experience thousands of simultaneous hits/visits, its database must be pre-calculated into a user-friendly format in order to provide timely as well as accurate results to an increasingly Internet-savvy public. While many dietitians may not work in information management, they need to understand how information is managed to be able to participate in Web 2.0 technology nutrition and health applications, in order to be part of the conversation.
Funding Disclosure: None
Funding Disclosure: None
Using Twitter to Market an Internship Program in the 21st Century: One Internship’s Venture into Web 2.0 Technology
The Electronic Portfolio in Dietetics Education: A Case Study
Author(s): L. Worthington,1 P. Fatzinger McShane,1 K. Pellechia2; 1 Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, 2Food and Nutrition Information Center, USDA National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD
Author(s): S. M. Leson; Human Ecology, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
Learning Outcome: To illustrate how a dietetic internship program is using social media to train interns to market and inform. Internet social marketing site popularity is increasing as these sites represent a new venue for dietetic professionals to position themselves as the source of credible nutrition information. Twitter, a free social marketing site that allows Twitter-users to send and receive 140 character messages known as “tweets”, is one such social marketing tool. Twitter is currently used by many organizations, companies and news media to get real-time information to its Twitter-users termed “followers”. One dietetic internship program initiated a twitter account to attract followers to primarily market information about what dietetic interns are doing to promote healthy nutrition during current supervised practice rotations. Dietetic interns submit one to two tweets per week for posting on the internship twitter site. In addition, interns have their own twitter account and are encouraged to tweet about events throughout the week. As interns tweet, the internship site will “re-tweet” (resend) the event when notified. From twitter training and practice, interns learn how to develop “catchy” tweet language style in simple, concise messages designed to add new followers and maintain current followers. The Internship Facebook page updates simultaneously to keep Facebook fans updated on the progress of current interns. The internship twitter site provides snapshot activity of interns “in action” and provides potential applicants with a view of one internship program’s technology emphasis. Twitter, an innovative approach to market the internship in the social marketing world, also allows interns to network globally with other dietetics professionals. Funding Disclosure: None
A-20 / September 2010 Suppl 2—Abstracts Volume 110 Number 9
Learning Outcome: The participant will be able to identify two benefits of incorporating electronic portfolios into the dietetic education process. One way to foster and develop the reflective thinking process is to provide the student with a tool that allows longitudinal reflection of work. There is an increased focus (from all stakeholders) on accountability for student learning outcomes. The electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) has been adopted on many campuses as a means to integrate teaching, reflective learning, and assessment. Unlike the paper that is written, graded, and stored in a folder, the e-portfolio provides the student with a dynamic and systematic process of reflecting upon their educational and co-curricular experiences over time. As part of a pilot project, at Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, select academic programs and courses were enlisted to participate in the development of student electronic portfolios and the subsequent process of archiving student work samples to an electronic platform for assessment purposes. The Educational Requirements and Accreditation Standards from the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education are tracked and tagged to student artifacts, thus providing documentation of the educational process. This presentation highlights a Dietetic student’s experiences with developing an e-portfolio. The poster presentation will benefit students, faculty, and administration by helping to engage students in reflective thinking, moving them to take responsibility for their own education, and become better learners. Funding Disclosure: None
POSTER SESSION: PROFESSIONAL SKILLS; NUTRITION ASSESSMENT; MEDICAL NUTRITION THERAPY Creating a Website (Food Flash) Focused on the Use of Photography as an International Learning Tool for Nutrition Students
Dietetic Internship Information Management and Technology Training at a Federal Agency: Skills to Advance Practicing Dietitians into the 21st Century
Author(s): K. Secinaro,1 S. Kannan,1 L. Kinney2; 1School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Nutrition Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 2Hospitality and Tourism, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Author(s): A. Leone,1 P. Fatzinger McShane,1 J. Haven,2 P. Britten2; 1 Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, 2USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Alexandria, VA
Learning Outcome: To provide an opportunity for nutrition students to learn about food culture and international nutrition through the use of photography.
Learning Outcome: To describe intern training in technology designed to enhance understanding of database use and function.
Visual learning is a style which emphasizes learning from pictures, videos, and demonstrations. The goal of this project was to create a website (Food Flash) focused on the use of photography as a learning tool for students participating in abroad programs. Photography was used to assess portion sizes in eateries across France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Pictures were accompanied by observation notes. Items photographed included all foods eaten while abroad at restaurants, bakeries, cafe´s, sandwich shops, farmer’s markets and fast food chains. Pictures were organized into a slideshow using Photobucket according to the following information: name and description of food, food category, location, type of eatery, and evaluation of portion size. Pictures for the slideshow were chosen based on clarity of the picture and how well each visually demonstrated portion size. A website, Food Flash, was created to display this slideshow and those created by future students. Food Flash represents one way to enhance the cultural competencies of nutrition students and practicing dietitians through the use of photography. The technological basis for this project makes it easily accessible to all students interested in learning about food culture and international nutrition, while the visual emphasis breaks down language barriers and familiarizes students with food and nutrition across the globe.
Information management and technology skill mastery are critical for Registered Dietitian success as the world moves into the 21st century and a Web 2.0 environment. The public increasingly utilizes social media and other Internet applications as its information source. One dietetic internship program introduced a database management project through its information technology management rotation to enhance intern skills in and understanding of the “backside” of webbased sites. In one setting, food composition data from several federal agencies are gathered and reformatted in order to disseminate information via Internet-based interactive tools to the public. Nutritional information is generally based upon 100 grams of food product. Information on a per portion basis must be calculated using the gram weight of the portion. Computer software can handle the mathematical components, but a skilled person is needed to evaluate, determine consistency of the values, and merge them into a final data set to support web-based applications. Food products may have multiple portion sizes, which require multiple computations with multiple data entries. Since the Internet-based web tool may experience thousands of simultaneous hits/visits, its database must be pre-calculated into a user-friendly format in order to provide timely as well as accurate results to an increasingly Internet-savvy public. While many dietitians may not work in information management, they need to understand how information is managed to be able to participate in Web 2.0 technology nutrition and health applications, in order to be part of the conversation.
Funding Disclosure: None
Funding Disclosure: None
Using Twitter to Market an Internship Program in the 21st Century: One Internship’s Venture into Web 2.0 Technology
The Electronic Portfolio in Dietetics Education: A Case Study
Author(s): L. Worthington,1 P. Fatzinger McShane,1 K. Pellechia2; 1 Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, 2Food and Nutrition Information Center, USDA National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD
Author(s): S. M. Leson; Human Ecology, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
Learning Outcome: To illustrate how a dietetic internship program is using social media to train interns to market and inform. Internet social marketing site popularity is increasing as these sites represent a new venue for dietetic professionals to position themselves as the source of credible nutrition information. Twitter, a free social marketing site that allows Twitter-users to send and receive 140 character messages known as “tweets”, is one such social marketing tool. Twitter is currently used by many organizations, companies and news media to get real-time information to its Twitter-users termed “followers”. One dietetic internship program initiated a twitter account to attract followers to primarily market information about what dietetic interns are doing to promote healthy nutrition during current supervised practice rotations. Dietetic interns submit one to two tweets per week for posting on the internship twitter site. In addition, interns have their own twitter account and are encouraged to tweet about events throughout the week. As interns tweet, the internship site will “re-tweet” (resend) the event when notified. From twitter training and practice, interns learn how to develop “catchy” tweet language style in simple, concise messages designed to add new followers and maintain current followers. The Internship Facebook page updates simultaneously to keep Facebook fans updated on the progress of current interns. The internship twitter site provides snapshot activity of interns “in action” and provides potential applicants with a view of one internship program’s technology emphasis. Twitter, an innovative approach to market the internship in the social marketing world, also allows interns to network globally with other dietetics professionals. Funding Disclosure: None
A-20 / September 2010 Suppl 2—Abstracts Volume 110 Number 9
Learning Outcome: The participant will be able to identify two benefits of incorporating electronic portfolios into the dietetic education process. One way to foster and develop the reflective thinking process is to provide the student with a tool that allows longitudinal reflection of work. There is an increased focus (from all stakeholders) on accountability for student learning outcomes. The electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) has been adopted on many campuses as a means to integrate teaching, reflective learning, and assessment. Unlike the paper that is written, graded, and stored in a folder, the e-portfolio provides the student with a dynamic and systematic process of reflecting upon their educational and co-curricular experiences over time. As part of a pilot project, at Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, select academic programs and courses were enlisted to participate in the development of student electronic portfolios and the subsequent process of archiving student work samples to an electronic platform for assessment purposes. The Educational Requirements and Accreditation Standards from the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education are tracked and tagged to student artifacts, thus providing documentation of the educational process. This presentation highlights a Dietetic student’s experiences with developing an e-portfolio. The poster presentation will benefit students, faculty, and administration by helping to engage students in reflective thinking, moving them to take responsibility for their own education, and become better learners. Funding Disclosure: None