Program Expansion to Meet Student and Workplace Needs



Program Expansion to Meet Student and Workplace Needs

 Distance Dental Hygiene

 Presented by:

Susan H. Forsyth, RDH, BS, MS

Institution and address:

Monroe Community College

1000 E. Henrietta Road

Rochester, New York 14623

Contact information:

585.292.2762

sforsyth@monroecc.edu

Presentation synopsis: Monroe Community College, in collaboration with Jefferson Community College (Watertown, NY) and Jamestown Community College (Jamestown, NY) is currently in the second semester of providing distance dental hygiene education to three separate sites in New York. The purpose of this expansion project is to provide dental hygiene education to students in rural areas and students who would not be able to attend a "regular" dental hygiene school. The goal is to provide educational opportunities in dental hygiene and prepare dental hygienists in areas of New York State which are currently underserved. It is anticipated that the students educated at these distance sties will stay in those rural areas upon completion of the program.

 The didactic portion of the program is offered to the students as online classes. All didactic courses are offered through MCC which uses the SUNY Learning Net for its online course management system. The students participate in the clinical and laboratory components of the courses at three different clinical sites. Two in the Southern Tier, Cuba, NY and Dunkirk, NY (Jamestown C.C) and one in the North Country, Watertown (Jefferson C.C.).

 The faculty members at the three distance clinical site are all MCC adjunct faculty members. All have attended orientation and calibration sessions on the MCC campus. Clinical and laboratory courses are taught during evenings and Saturdays. The didactic course work is taught by MCC faculty from the main campus in Rochester.

 During the spring 2006 semester, 28 students took a pre-semester course, Den 112 Oral Anatomy and Physiology I, as an online course to determine the students comfort with the online learning environment. As a result of this pre-semester, several students decided not to apply for the distance program. MCC decided to allow five more students into the program and require the students to follow the normal course sequence and take Den 112 during the fall 2006 semester.

 Course work in presented in the online environment and taught by faculty from the MCC campus. The adjunct faculty have guest access to all of the didactic courses. Additionally I and a representative from our Instructional Development Department traveled to all three sites and conducted an orientation program that we offer on the MCC campus for new online students. The B.O.S.S. (Building Online Student Success) presentation was well received by all of the students.

This presentation will include the issues involved in establishing an expansion program, the accreditation process, the positives and the pitfalls.

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