Designing a Hybrid EI Certificate Program

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Designing a Hybrid EI Certificate Program

• Laurie Poklop, M.Ed.
• Karin Lifter, Ph.D.
• Northeastern University

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Agenda

• Introductions
• The project
• The process
• The challenges
• The results

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Introductions

• Laurie Poklop, Web-based Curriculum Designer,
  Educational Technology Center
• Karin Lifter, Associate Professor, Dept. of
  Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology,
  Bouve College of Health Professions
• Our other colleagues
• Louis J. Kruger, Ph.D.
• Barbara Okun, Ph.D.
• Mary Watson, Dean, School of Health Professions

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The project

• Beginnings Fall 2002
• Goal transform a graduate-level certificate
  program into a hybrid, online/face-to-face format
• Increase program accessibility to working
  professionals
• Draw students from broader geographical region
• Require fewer visits to campus
• Target 25 in classroom 75 online using
  Blackboard

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The program

• Early Intervention (EI) Certificate Program
• Prepares students to work with infants and
  toddlers with disabilities, or at risk for
  developmental delay, and their families
• 4-course sequence plus year-long practicum
  placement
• Participants
• F/T grad students and working professionals
• Interdisciplinary physical therapy, speech and
  language psychology, school psychology,
  counseling psychology, education/special
  education and nursing
• Faculty similarly interdisciplinary

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The program (cont.)

• Developed in response to national need
• Approved by Mass Dept. of Public Health (DPH)
• Only approved program in state that is
  interdisciplinary
• Supported through 2 training grants from U.S.
  Dept of Education, Office of Special Education
  Programs (OSEP)

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The decisions

• Each course employed a different style of
  teaching and learning
• Online style to be dictated by
• domain of learning objectives
• the teaching style of the faculty
• and the type of work required of students
• Two primary technical components defined
• a portal web site to provide program-wide
  resources (http//www.earlyintervention.neu.edu)
• Blackboard sites for each individual course

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The process

• Consider course objectives, mechanisms to assess
  student learning, and characteristics of the
  students
• Take a detailed look at the activities
  traditionally used in each course
• Evaluate the activities to determine which to
  present in class and which to redesign for online
  delivery
• Define common structure for Blackboard courses
• Build course components
• Evaluate effectiveness

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The challenges

• Translating experiential learning to online
  experience
• Increasing technical skills of students and
  faculty
• Building community in an online program

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Translating experiential learning

• What to do online and in class?
• Faculty considered core value to students
• What did each offer that was most difficult to
  replicate without face-to-face interaction?
• An overview of the strategies used in each
  course
• Early Intervention Infant and Toddler
  Development, Risk, and Disability
• Early Intervention Family Systems
• Practicum in Early Intervention

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Infant and Toddler Development

• Course content
• Introduces students to many domains of child
  development
• Compares theoretical viewpoints
• Students apply theory by interpreting videotaped
  interactions with children
• Learning strategies
• Face-to-face time focused on coaching on skills
  of observation and interpretation
• Online lectures (including other faculty)
• Individual and group discussion assignments
  applying theory to observations and case studies
• Individual project

See the course
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Family Systems

• Course content
• Apply family systems theories to family, team,
  and agency systems
• Typically taught through extensive use of role
  plays and interactive exercises
• Learning strategies
• Heavy reliance on threaded discussions
• Theories presented through posted documentation
• Dr. Okuns comment
• The major advantage to this kind of teaching is
  that I feel connected to each student and am
  aware of their thinking and digestion of the
  material, whereas in a traditional class, you
  cannot tell that everyone is following the
  discussion or integrating the readings.

See the course
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Practicum in EI

• Course content
• Fieldwork supervision
• Learning strategies
• Online journals
• Students apply learning from other courses to
  practice
• Faculty reply to all postings
• Students present cases in face-to-face meetings

See the course
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Increasing technical skills

• 2 out of 3 faculty had no experience teaching
  online
• None of faculty had used Blackboard
• Assumed some participants would have limited
  technical experience
• Team needed to
• build their own technical skills
• design courses that were easy for students to use
• provide technical support resources for students

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Tech support for students

• Live technical orientation
• Required establishing Blackboard accounts BEFORE
  arriving on campus
• Technical Support page on portal site
• Link to interactive Blackboard simulation
• Contact info for Blackboard support
• Directions an activating account

See the web site
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Increasing faculty skills

• EdTech Center provided
• Customized Blackboard training and documentation
• Guidelines for constructing online learning
  components
• Tips for online communication
• Ongoing support was needed
• To implement course components
• To make adjustments as it became apparent what
  worked and what didnt
• Faculty developed skills in context of
  implementing courses

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Building community

• What seemed to be a challenge proved to be an
  advantage
• Online environment fostered community building
  among the students
• Interdisciplinary communication increased when
  students could not sit in disciplinary groups
• Structure of activities also fostered community
  building
• Some sample activities

See the course
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Early evaluation student reactions

• Overall, very positive
• Like discussion board interaction
• Appreciate level of faculty feedback
• Value flexibility
• Criticisms focus on inconsistency in when things
  are posted and some unclear expectations
• A couple students prefer a face-to-face format

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Early evaluation faculty reactions

• Overall, very positive about new format
• Enormous amount of work to
• Redesign and develop the courses
• Learn and keep up with the technical requirements
• Interact with students and evaluate work
• Anticipate this will improve in subsequent
  deliveries
• Benefits are clear in terms of the quality of
  student learning
• Writing in assignments and discussion board
  activities, makes what students do and dont
  understand readily apparent
• Faculty can intervene in problems and build on
  good work

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Conclusions

• Its a lot of work
• Support has been critical
• The results are worth it!

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Contact info

• Karin Lifter, Ph.D.k.lifter_at_neu.edu
• Laurie Poklopl.poklop_at_neu.edu
• View our presentationhttp//www.cicd.neu.edu/news
  _and_events/?id1