Shannon Kirkland, MBA

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Building a Web-based Infrastructure

• Shannon Kirkland, MBA
• Danielle Askins, BA
• West Texas AHEC Program

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Overview

• Texas H.O.T. Jobs history
• Website tour and infrastructure
• Resources for educators
• Sustainability and future
• Getting started on your own

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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H.O.T. Jobs history

• Started by the Texas AHEC network in
• 1997 as a printed book
• Designed to prepare students for entry into
• the healthcare field
• Historically updated every 3 years
• First HOT Jobs website was contributed by
• the HSTE partner in early 2005 as part of 2nd
• editiona pdf version of the book with some
• lesson plan materials
• 3rd edition website launched in early 2006,
• much more graphically oriented and some
• basic interactive features

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Research implications
Research Findings Website Modifications
Social network important Developed parent section
Talking to healthcare professionals important Developed Professionals in Field
Mixed impact talking to teachers / counselors Developed educator section
Website impt, but need multimedia components Website rich in graphics interactive formats
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Design considerations

• Complex database architecture
• behind the scenes to drive huge
• volumes of data
• Strategic use of photos, colors, Flash
• and video components to reinforce
• messaging for target audiences
• Interactivity
• Highlighting real life experiences of
• others

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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What it took

• 651 pages of internal content
• 7 multi-table databases
• 145 Flash components
• 65 videos
• 470 links to external content
• More than 2,000 communications with high school
  administrators for research participation

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Preview of website

• Career Seeker Section
• Parent Section
• Educator Section

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Website Tour

• www.texashotjobs.org

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Career Seekers section

• All of the career seeker information
• available in Spanish
• New Professionals in the Field
• Expanded Personal career manager
• profile
• - Career Comparison Grid
• Professionals in the field highlights based on
• top career choices
• - RSS news feed for healthcare news
• - Checklists

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Career profile

• Creates opportunity for targeted content and
  communication based on users inputs on region,
  demographics, and career interest
• Expandable content delivery area
• Potential for peer-to-peer communication

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Career Seeker section

• Redesigned career roadmaps, tying in Achieve
  Texas programs of study
• Colleges and universities search
• Functionality for resource sharing with peers
  (Bookmark feature connecting to Facebook,
  Twitter, etc.)

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Career Seekers section

• Interactive career exploration modules
• Identification of diseases affecting minorities
• Preparation of scripts for each module
• Healthcare professional representation
• Diversity of healthcare settings
• Math, science and vocabulary skill building
• Health risk factors and behaviors
• Communication skills
• Access to Professionals in the Field and roadmaps

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Career Seekers section

• Interactive career exploration modules
• 15 modules
• 62 individual healthcare scenes
• 39 different healthcare careers represented
• 40 health care professionals as actors /
  actresses
• Diverse population of patients and healthcare
  professionals
• Each scene ranges from 1 5 minutes in length
• 10-12 math and science questions developed for
  each module (based on 3 levels of difficulty),
  which are mapped to high school assessment
  competencies

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Educators section

• Completely NEW!!!
• Lesson plans that supplement the online
• Career Exploration Modules
• - Identify TAKS and College Readiness standards
• RSS news feeds for healthcare news
• Direct access to the Career Roadmaps,
• which link to the AchieveTexas pathways
• and POS
• Blog for sharing best practices
• Archive of all previous educator materials

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Lesson plans

• Development team
• Lead Lori Milner, PhD (DFW AHEC)
• Jan Ritter, M.Ed. (Piney Woods AHEC)
• Jody Sanders, BA, teaching certificate (Pecan
  Valley AHEC)
• Process
• Reviewed module scripts
• Developed classroom-formatted activities to
  complement modules
• Conducted evaluation process with six educators

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Lesson plan validation

• Each reviewer evaluated on a rubric scale 1-5
• Appropriateness for high school
• Relevance to the module topic
• Instructions are clear
• Content is correct/valid
• Modifications made based on these evaluations

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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(No Transcript)
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Educators section

• References page for resources related to
• health careers development
• Announcements area for YouTube contest
• for classes, summer camp opportunities,
• etc.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Parents and Families section

• Parents and extended family play a huge
• role in the success of their child
• - Influencing career choice
• Preparing for and accessing education after high
  
• school
• Provides a tool for parents to assist their
• child who is interested in pursuing a health
• career
• - Why choose a career in health care fields?
• - Discuss myths about healthcare careers
• - Interactive Career Interest Survey
• - Breakdown of salary potential by education
  level
• - Financial aid information
• Available in Spanish

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Database infrastructure

• Main Career Database
• Salary ticker (flash)
• Salary range, annual hourly
• Heartbeat area (flash)
• Job Outlook
• Professional in the field link
• Length of training
• Career Explorer module link
• My Career Profile

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Database infrastructure

• Universities
• Name of college
• URL
• Location
• Degree programs available
• Zip code to GPS coordinates
• University zone
• AHEC region and center

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Database infrastructure

• Module database
• Math Science
• Vocabulary
• Information links
• Titles descriptions
• Also connections to role model database and main
  career database

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Utilization

• In 2007, the site averaged 5,000 visitors/month
• In 2010, the site averaged 22,000 visitors/month
• 924 number of registered profile career seekers
  to date (23.7 Hispanic, 17.4 African American,
  23 unreported)

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Utilization
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Visibility and searches

• Ranks 2 on Google and Bing for health careers
  in Texas.
• About 1 www.texashealthcareers.org
• Top search terms that direct people to this site
  are various forms of
• hot jobs
• hot jobs in Texas
• Texas jobs
• cool jobs in Texas
• You dont see health care mentioned.
• 4 of the top 50 search terms are in Spanish

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Not in a vacuum

• How we promote it
• Statewide AHEC health careers promotion efforts
• HOT Jobs print tools
• Use in high school HSE courses
• PSAs developed for local use by partners

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Next steps website

• Website monitoring and revisions
• Targeted use of Twitter and Facebook
• Continue to expand role model pool
• Research and add new careers certified tumor
  registrar, nursing informatics, new health
  information technology opportunities
• This College Life pilot test

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Next steps sustainability

• Advertising
• Opportunity for organizations that are
  mission-aligned to participate
• Assisting other states with development

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Getting started

• From scratch or a revamp
• Look at other sites, both career and pop culture,
  to identify strengths
• Graphic appeal
• Navigation
• Review your data
• In what format does your information exist?
• Do you have the resources to streamline it for
  efficiencies in future editions?

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Getting started

• Development Process
• Establish work group
• Assess need
• Determine the scope of the project
• Develop project timeline
• Generate funding
• Research and develop product
• Distribute

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Getting started

• Needs assessment
• Surveys/focus groups with primary audiences
• Scope
• Prioritize important features
• Look at the budget
• Work with a web programmer to identify the best
  options to accomplish as many of your priorities
  as possible
• Consider staging project

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Getting started

• Timeline
• Realistic
• With Web development, expect that it takes longer
  than you expect
• RD
• Goes back to needs assessment and priorities
• Content. Content. Content.
• Messages delivered in more than one way

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Getting started

• Distribute
• How do you drive traffic to your Web site?
• Supporting mechanisms hard copy books or
  business cards distributed at events
• PSAs
• Links to your from other key Web sites
• Where does it rank in the search engines and how
  to improve?

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Getting started

• Explore interactive options
• Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. These can be added
  to your site pretty inexpensively.
  Considerations
• Someone to keep the stream of information current
• Addressing concerns related to appropriateness of
  content and user interactions

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Partners and contributors

• TTUHSC School of Pharmacy
• TTUHSC F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and
  Community Health, West Texas AHEC Program
• TTU College of Mass Communications
• AHEC of the Plains
• East Texas AHEC Program (UTMB)
• DFW AHEC (UT Southwestern), Piney Woods AHEC
  (Stephen F. Austin University), and Pecan Valley
  AHEC (Victoria College)

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Vendors

• Web Development Visual Reality Production, Inc.
• Photos and Graphic Concept Hartsfield Design
• Messaging Strategies CommuniCard, LLC
• Spanish Translation Teneo Linguistics
• Video Development Studio 84

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Wrapping up

• Questions and comments?

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Contact us

• Shannon Kirkland
• TTUHSC F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and
  Community Health
• shannon.kirkland_at_ttuhsc.edu p. 806.743.1338
• Danielle Askins
• AHEC of the Plains
• danielle.askins_at_ahecplains.org p.
  806.291.0101