Remote education is proving to be a challenge in plenty of classes, but it’s particularly thorny when being hands-on is everything. Consider the associate’s degree in radiologic technology at NHTI.
“The normal setting is in a clinic; we have a relationship with the hospitals. We don’t really have a classroom,” said professor Kate Marcouillier, who as clinical coordinator at Concord’s community college oversees the hands-on portion of training people to take X-rays. “They observe, assist and perform, depending on where they are.”
The problem, of course, is that the hospitals where students do their clinical training have tightened up almost everything as the coronavirus pandemic approached us.
“They no longer allowing students at their site,” said Marcouillier.
After spring break, when most students went home, NHTI rolled out an online course for the rest of the semester. Marcouillier says that’s more useful than you might think.
Radiology technologists perform or assist in performing the taking of X-rays and other medical imagery. They don’t diagnose the results but, Marcouillier said, they need a deep understanding of the whole process and the needs of the doctor or radiologist so they can determine how to proceed.
That aspect of the training is just as important as learning to maneuver equipment and patients, she said, and remote training is working fine.
“We do image critiquing: Did it get all of the anatomy? How’s diagnostic quality? Would the radiologist potentially want more imaging? That is part of our critical thinking skills; we want them to know that this conversaton should take place,” she said. “We discuss scenarios and walk through processes – those are things that they would be experiencing now in a clinical setting that you can still do (remotely).”
NHTI was quick to get them up on Zoom and other platforms, she said, partly because the work was in progress.
“It was pretty apparent before spring break. For the most part, we were anticipating this was going to occur,” she said. The fact that parts of classes were already online helped: “The students were used to going on the computer every single day.”
The timing helped, too: “We were very lucky to get the first half of the semester in at the hospital setting. That gave us a leg up.”
The two-year associate’s degree program in the diagnostic imaging department runs all year, with no summer break. Marcouillier said the seniors, as second-year students are called, will be able to graduate on time, although “they’re going to have to get back in the clinic and complete what we call the competency” before they can get licensed and get jobs.
“The freshmen” or the first-year students “are still on track. I wouldn’t say at this stage they’re behind,” she said, although they’ll need to make up lost clinical time, hopefully this summer. If the shutdown extends into the fall that might cause issues, she said, although at the moment that appears unlikely.
As for Marcouillier, shifting to the online format was easier than it might be fore some.
“For me, online education isn’t boring or hard. I did my undergrad and graduate degree through online format, so I may have had a leg up. It gave me an advantage of knowing what are some of the questions that students are going to have,” she said.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
