Pleased to report that a demonstration version of our Supporting Breastfeeding Mothers E-Learning package is now available on the Healthtalkonline website in the Teaching and Learning Section.

The package is a high quality, interactive, web-based ‘reusable learning object’, aimed at final year student midwives. Using video narratives of women’s lived experiences of breastfeeding selected from Healthtalkonline, together with other published evidence, students are provided with an enhanced insight about what kind of support is effective, empowering and valued, and what support is regarded as unhelpful, detrimental and disempowering. They are then encouraged to critically evaluate and challenge current practices that influence the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding, as well as reflect on their own practice and attitudes to breastfeeding.

Visit Healthtalkonline

Wii Fit Plus is the latest instalment in the Wii Fit series, and brings all new features to make your workout more productive, personal and even more fun.

Wii fit Plus will now allow you to check and monitor four key areas of your physique, BMI (body mass index), centre of gravity, and calories burnt during your workout, allowing you to set your goals

There are five training categories (including the brand new Training Plus), which help you to develop body balance, burn fat, tone and condition muscle, as well as increasing stamina. On Wii Fit Plus you can customise your own training routines, or ask your Wii Fit trainer to do it for you based on the area of your body you’d like to work on.

SenseCam is a wearable digital camera that is designed to take photographs passively, without user intervention, while it is being worn. Unlike a regular digital camera or a cameraphone, SenseCam does not have a viewfinder or a display that can be used to frame photos. Instead, it is fitted with a wide-angle (fish-eye) lens that maximizes its field-of-view. This ensures that nearly everything in the wearer’s view is captured by the camera, which is important because a regular wearable camera would likely produce many uninteresting images.

SenseCam Website

New study proves that Microsoft’s sensory innovation aids memory recall

A reason to forgive Microsoft for the appallingly crass and unfunny windows 7 adverts currently interrupting my televisual viewing………

Source : Kip Jones

This summer writes Simon Crompton in the Times, the Medical College of Georgia in the United States announced the results of its research into the effects of “Wii-hab” on people with Parkinson’s disease. In an eight-week study, 18 people were asked to play Wii Sports, including virtual versions of boxing and ten-pin bowling, for an hour a day, three times a week for four weeks. By the end of that time all the participants showed significant improvements in rigidity, movement, fine motor skills and energy levels. Importantly, their depression levels also decreased; depression affects around half of people with Parkinson’s disease….

Full Story

Source : SL Health List

Gartner are suggesting that virtual worlds are about to plunge into a “trough of disillusionment”, lecture podcasts are fast becoming obsolete, but cloud computing will soon be on the “slope of enlightenment” writes Zoe Corbyn in the Times Higher Education.

Difficult to find out how they’ve come to this conclusion without reading the actual report which I don’t have access to.

Times Higher Education Article

Hype Cycle for Education 2009 (you need access to Gartner)

Source : Kip Jones

The JISC guide is aimed at those who are wanting to use Second Life for teaching in further and higher education. It provides in-depth descriptions of all aspects of the immersive world for both direct useand facilitating others’ use and is free !

View Guide

Hugh Grant (whose mother died of pancreatic cancer) has been helping to raise awareness of Healthtalkonline with one of the creators Dr Ann McPherson on BBC Breakfast…..

View Interview

A brief summary on the Second Life Education New Zealand virtual birth unit………….

Sarah’s Musings Blog

Source : SLHealth List

Regular readers will note that I’ve always been fascinated by Nintendo’s approach to using health and social care as an area for gaming entertainment (dating back to Trauma Centre : Under The Knife in February 2006) and here comes another one for the Wii and DS systems: Hysteria Hospital

View Screen Shots

You can organise the ward and direct the patients to treat their conditions as quickly as possible and design and improve your ward for life-saving efficiency to be the best head nurse and save the Hospital from being overrun. There are 7 different wards to run, from a local Maryville clinic through to New York Central Hospital.

And as previously mentioned we’re not too far removed from moving this concept into the realm of ‘real’ health education dealing with the idea of trying to manage a ward or accident and emergency area with proper rather than made up cases…….

Thanks to our friends at the University of Leeds (and Dickie Mint in particular) we have been able to relocate our HSC Gallery on Education Island – where we will be recreating this project temporarily. It’s still work-in-progress but will hopefully take shape again over the summer…..

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