Online Emergency Risk Communication Simulation
Jeanne Pfeiffer
Nima Salehi
Online Emergency Risk Communication Simulation
Professors Jeanne Pfeiffer and Cynthia Peden McAlpin co-developed an online course called Nursing 6938 Emergency Preparedness for Public Health Nursing Leaders using content developed from a previous in-class curriculum. The online course development was supported by the Learning Mostly Online Program (LMOL) through the Provosts office; directed by Bob Rubinyi. The School of Nursing instructional designer, Nima Salehi, assisted with course design.
When this course was taught in the classroom students would participate in a timed emergency risk communication simulation. This activity would typically be done during the last third of the semester as a culmination of content and skills learned on team planning and emergency communication standards.
The two-hour simulation involved the following components:
- Students were provided with an emergency risk scenario
- They worked in teams to develop a message for one of the following audiences
-
- Public message
- Inner agency message
- Outside agency message
- They had to write up their message and then present it to other student teams
- They had to provide peer feedback on the messages created by other teams
- The instructor would then review activity results with the entire class and provide feedback on messages created
The challenge was how to take this activity online, what information should be included in the assignment guidelines and what technologies would be the most efficient in facilitating each step of the activity. The instructor wanted to complete this activity within a two hour synchronous timeframe to make this more authentic to the quick turnaround and decision making undertaken by a health risk communication management team.
Assignment guideline and rubric
During the first week of class students were provided with guidelines for all assignments in their online Moodle course site. Course materials and assignments in week 1-7 provided them with additional materials and skills practice needed for successful completion of the simulation activity. Follow up activities and assignments extended analysis of how emergency risk communication might be implemented at each person’s own agency.
The Emergency Risk Communication guidelines (full guidelines in index) provided a description of the purpose, the process, and criteria on how messages and peer feedback would be graded. Guidelines included a timeline in table format detailing what would happen during each step of the simulation. This also let them know what technologies would be used during each step of this process. Table 1 outlines the timing of various activities over the course of the two hours.
Timeline/Activities Table (7:00 – 9:00 PM)
Time
|
Activity
|
6:50 PM
|
Log in to GoToMeeting early - https://www3.gotomeeting.com/join/982938942
Check audio connection and troubleshoot any technical difficulties with GoToMeeting online help
|
7:00 PM (10 min)
|
Meeting begins - Agenda Clarification
|
7:10 PM (40 min)
|
Each group will develop messages using personal phone communication and their assigned Group Wiki in the online Moodle course site in Module 8.
|
7:50 PM (10 min)
|
Break
|
8:00 PM (30 min)
|
Each student will then have 30 minutes to go to the course site, review other messages, and prepare talking points for the debriefing session. Post your talking points as feedback to the other groups in the discussion forum under each wiki. When we stop to debrief. If you have not posted all your talking points by that time, you can do it after the session ends or the following day.
|
8:30 PM (30 min)
|
Finally your instructor will facilitate a debriefing session in GoToMeeting where all particants will view completed assignments in the course site while discussing them. From this debriefing session, we will determine the gaps in communication that might be the focus of the exercise for the next training interval in your jurisdiction.
|
Team message document collaboration
Initially Google docs was considered as an option for students to write up their messages in teams. Each document would have been linked in the Moodle course site for peer feedback purposes. However School of Nursing (SON) students have had access issues with Google docs due to blocks for the Academic Health Center. So we decided to use the Moodle wiki instead; wikis having been used successfully by students for other online SON course activities.
While both Moodle wikis and discussion forums allow grouping we decided not to use the group function for this activity. We instead created 3 separate wikis and forums and indicated the group title on each activity link. This was because student teams would all be editing their wikis simultaneously during the simulation and we had some concerns about student editors being blocked due to multiple users. In addition we felt that having 3 wiki links with each peer feedback forum link directly under it helped to visually represent the scope of the task being undertaken. With a small class this was possible. For a larger class with more teams, we might use group settings for both wikis and peer feedback forums in order to avoid a long line of wiki links.
The set up of the content module, wikis (where each message was created) and discussion forums with student feedback within Moodle is illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Instructions, wikis, and student feedback groups in the Moodle LMS
Brief directions for how to begin editing wiki page content were included at the top of each wiki in large bold font. Students had no technical issues with using the wiki during the simulation.
Online Meeting Framework
GoToMeeting, an online conferencing tool, was used to frame the online session activity. Students were asked to attend a test GoToMeeting session 3 days before the assigned date using the computer they planned to use during simulation to troubleshoot any technical difficulties ahead of time.
On the assigned date, students logged in to the GoToMeeting session, reviewed the task, then met with their teams by phone (2 people per team), then typed up their assignment in the course site wiki and provided peer review through discussions. The instructor used GoToMeeting to review and summarize the simulation activity with students. Through GoToMeeting the instructor was able to share her desktop view of each message in the course site, view peer feedback provided, and then provide her own analysis and advice.
Due to the careful planning and preparation of the activity (and maybe some luck) we had no technical difficulties during the session. The entire technical landscape for the project mapped to each simulation activity can be found in Table 2.
Technologies used to facilitate simulation preparation and completion:
Simulation Activities
|
Technology used
|
Pre-task preparation
|
Moodle course site support documents
GoTomeeting test session
|
Begin Session: agenda clarification
|
GoToMeeting
|
Team message creation
|
Phone and Moodle course site wiki
|
Peer feedback
|
Moodle discussion forum
|
Simulation Debriefing
|
GoToMeeting
|
Table 2: Simulation activities and technologies used.
Assignment guidelines and preparatory activities addressed the scope of the task to help ensure that students were able to understand exactly what was expected of them.
Students reported that this activity was integral in helping them understand the amount of preparation and planning needed to effectively respond to emergency risk conditions. They appreciated conducting this simulation activity within a restricted time period as this approximated the challenge they may be required to face in a “real life” situation. Students appreciated the candid feedback they received from peers who responded as key stakeholders within a health community. They also reported being pleasantly surprised at how smoothly they were able to use multiple technologies with minimal difficulties and with the focus on the content rather than the process. Several students commented that they planned to apply these types of communication technologies in their own agencies.
A pre and post course assessment survey was administered. One of the questions asked was on their rate of confidence in “Methods used between agencies in your jurisdiction to communicate when usual sources fail to operate.”
Numerous activities were undertaken to improve student proficiency in risk communication. This activity was one among others that led to a significant improvement in student confidence levels for risk communication skills.
This course activity has been presented at faculty meetings and workshops and will serve as a model that can be modified by other faculty to facilitate innovative simulation exercises within hybrid or online courses.
Index:
Below complete assignment guidelines have been included (without the timeline). A risk scenario situation was also provided in a separate document to students right before the exercise was undertaken.
Emergency Risk Communication Exercise Guidelines
Exercise Purpose
You will participate with your classmates and faculty in a synchronous virtual table-top exercise at the pre-arranged time. This exercise will last approximately 120 minutes. Grading (S/N).
The aim of this exercise is to practice developing and articulating key basic critical, accurate and timely messages to your audience. You have each been assigned to develop emergency risk communication messages for 1 of 3 typical audiences:
Group I - Develop messages for inter-agency (public health agency) staff communication about this event
Group II - Develop messages for intra agency (between agencies) staff communication dealing with this event in your community, region or state.
Group III - Develop messages for the public who may or may not be affected by this event.
Message Components
Your messages should contain the following components being consistent with the CERC principles you have learned about on the Webinar and course resources.
- Target audience
- Six strategies (be first, be right, be credible, be empathetic, promote action, show respect)
- Test the message with stakeholders
- Evaluate the results
When you give feedback on this assignment to your classmates, consider whether these components have been addressed.
Jeanne Pfeiffer, DNP, MPH, RN, CIC <pfeif052@umn.edu>
Jeanne Pfeiffer is a clinical assistant professor of public health nursing in the University of MN, School of Nursing (SON). She served as SON coordinator and overall content expert for the MN Emergency Readiness Education and Training (MERET) Program funded by ASPR and awarded to the SON and SPH (2005-08). |
|
Nima Salehi <sale0012@umn.edu>
Nima Salehi is an instructional designer for the School of Nursing. She has her M.A. from the University of Minnesota. She co-authored a textbook on instructional technologies in 1999 and has provided workshop and classes on educational technology since 1998. |
|