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Own Topic: Discovery in Health Care Blog

Today I visited Heath care.gov and found that they have a very good blog going. The blog gives people lots of information on the basics of health insurance as well as an overview of the plans.  Another great feature about the blog is that it gives customers information about their rights, protections and the law in general on healthcare.  This blog is very important for anyone who is in the healthcare profession or not. 

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Adding people to my Blog

After researching a few blogs I found two really great blogs that I found to be helpful in my field.  I choose them because both provided up to date information about my career objectives and are full of details.  

The method that I chose to use was just to subscribe to the blog. This was the simplest way for me to start following and most blogs offer a follow me link.  Below is the links to the blogs that I selected. 

http://hospiad.blogspot.com/

http://healthcareadmin.wordpress.com/

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Professional Learning Networks

When asked what I think a Professional Learning Network means to me. The first thing that comes to mind is something that resembles the website LinkedIn.  However, I do realize that a Professional Learning Network is more than just networking.  Learning also has to be a part of the network.  Websites like Facebook and Blackboard are more close to the definition of a Professional Learning Network.  The reason is that these websites offer the users lots of information and at the same time network each other together with friends list and messaging.  Most people can find organizations that they can connect with and share ideas with on these types of websites.

One professional organization that I like and find the most helpful for my career goals is http://www.healthpronet.org/ this website allows Healthcare professionals to connect including students.  The website informs like-minded people about meetings and events as well as advocacy-legislation.  The website is a nationwide collaborative group of organizations that represents leading health professions associations as well as accrediting agencies, and educational institutions. Some of the main benefits in participating with this organization is that like-minded professional can share information of about different things going on the in healthcare profession.  This is important because the healthcare profession is one on the most rapidly changing professions in the world.

In the end as Professional Learning Networks begin to grow, more and more websites will be available for like mined professionals to share ideas and technologies with each other. I hope that in the future that after starting this blog that I will have more opportunities to connect with people in my profession so that I can share what I have learned in the industry. 

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Learning with Technology

Looking back in the past I can remember when taking classes consisted of only books and paper. Today however, we have apps for our smartphones and tablets as well as our computers.  Some will argue that all this technology has made learning more difficult, because there are so many new things to remember such as how to log in, and use new software online. However my experience has been just the opposite. Technology has made many things possible for me that would not have been possible if I had not used technology to learn with.  An example of how technology has helped me the most would be the fact that discussion boards online have improved my writing and critical thinking skills. I can remember the first time I took a class that used blackboard.  I was so frustrated for the first couple of days because I could not navigate the site with ease.  I remember just staring at the screen trying to remember how I got to the page I was on previously.  Over time though I got really good at using blackboard and found that it was helping me to improve my writing and critical thinking skills. Today I would not want to learn any other way then with technology.  Using technology has opened many doors for me, and I believe will open many more for me in the future.