FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The Medical Education and Training Campus at Joint Base San
Antonio-Fort Sam Houston is continually looking for new ways to enhance student
learning.
Understanding that today’s students are more technologically
advanced, skilled and oriented to using smartphones and tablets in their daily
lives, METC has been exploring ways to incorporate this technology to better
deliver and engage students learning in a digital training environment.
On Sept. 2 and Oct. 13, METC implemented two test pilot
programs using two classes in the preventive medicine program.
Students in both classes were issued wireless laptops or
Slate tablets that were downloaded with course material. Students can use the
devices to follow along with their instructors, take tests and study the
material in their private time.
The pilot program, called eMETC, is championed by Brig. Gen.
Robert Miller, METC commandant and director of Education and Training for the
Defense Health Agency, and supported by director for administration Col. Keith
Johnson, as well as dean of academics Navy Capt. Alan Nordholm.
According to Nordholm, the vision of the pilot program is to
provide an interoperable, agile, mobile, secure, value-added dynamic digital
learning environment that will optimize delivery of medical training for the
Department of Defense.
“The goal is to help students develop the knowledge while
utilizing technology, along with the development of important skills to
accomplish the mission,” Nordholm said.
The eMETC vision is to provide a campus-wide solution with
ready student accessibility for dynamic learning and utilize technology-enhanced
methods of delivery without compromising the content of instruction.
As part of this effort, METC will develop support for mobile
platforms and the best academic institutional network domains, determine the
best methods for educational delivery on institutional and personal electronic
devices, and evaluate mechanisms for reach-back capability.
“The objective of this test pilot is to test feasibility of
using Slates or similar mobile devices to deliver training and to conduct
testing,” Nordholm said. “These pilot tests will also help to solicit student
feedback on using a mobile device and how it may enhance the student’s learning
ability.”
The initial Phase I planning for eMETC took three months and
required a major team effort from information management division, curriculum
development division, distributed learning, academic support and many other
project team members in order to prepare for the pilot testing in such a very
short period of time.
The METC project team is now starting to tackle Phase II for
eMETC. Phase II will be implemented over the next three to four years and
requires analysis of alternatives to determine the types of mobile devices and
infrastructure to best support a digital environment, tiger teams to assess
METC readiness for infrastructure to support a wireless network, instructional
delivery using Blackboard and QuestionMark (e-content management platform and
e-testing platform respectively), program manning and the technology needed to
support instructional delivery in the future.
METC is not alone in testing and looking at adopting new
technologies and mobile devices to enhance the student learning environment,
but this project is a monumental effort to help METC achieve the strategic goal
of being recognized as a global leader in allied health education, be a center
for academic excellence and provide an infrastructure to fully support the METC
campus.
This project will place
METC education and training on the path to be recognized as a global leader in
allied health education and training.