With all of the outcry about online education and with the endorsement this organization got from one of our most respected forum members, I asked Mr. Brad Newbuy if I could listen to one of his lectures to judge the quality of the program for myself.
He graciously agreed and I was given access to his lecture on Capnography which came with the ability to see the real time interaction of the students with both instant texting as well as voice with the use of a microphone.
I must say that I only listened to the 15 minute break,(more than 30 minutes in) but I didn't notice anything that would make me think it was somehow inferior to listening to a similar lecture in a traditional classroom.
I don't see how any impartial person could come to the conclusion this program was fundamentally inferior to many other existing traditional programs.
The content was thorough, there is opportunity to interact not only by asking questions of the instructor over a microphone, but to actually see the chat feature to interact with other students and the instructor simultaneously as well. I would describe it as listening to a lecture on a social networking site.
From the technical standpoint about the only thing I could think was missing was an instructor keeping people focused by moving around and flailing arms and the like.
Mr. Newbury also took the time to tell me about several components that I did not have the time to view.
Perhaps the most impressive was the "graded discussion forum" as he described it.
It is similar to the format of US medical school Problem based learning curriculums, or the similar European seminar, which I have not had the opportunity to see anywhere else outside of gradaute medical education prior to this.
The educational value of such a feature alone makes it well worth serious consideration when choosing a program of study.
(Certainly not the only consideration I would investigate when choosing an educational program I was going to pay several thousand dollars to and bank my future professional success on)
I have no doubt that there are probably many online medic mill type programs. I am already familiar with some of the more infamous ones.
But as far as current US paramedic education goes, NMETC is certainly not to be grouped in with them.
He graciously agreed and I was given access to his lecture on Capnography which came with the ability to see the real time interaction of the students with both instant texting as well as voice with the use of a microphone.
I must say that I only listened to the 15 minute break,(more than 30 minutes in) but I didn't notice anything that would make me think it was somehow inferior to listening to a similar lecture in a traditional classroom.
I don't see how any impartial person could come to the conclusion this program was fundamentally inferior to many other existing traditional programs.
The content was thorough, there is opportunity to interact not only by asking questions of the instructor over a microphone, but to actually see the chat feature to interact with other students and the instructor simultaneously as well. I would describe it as listening to a lecture on a social networking site.
From the technical standpoint about the only thing I could think was missing was an instructor keeping people focused by moving around and flailing arms and the like.
Mr. Newbury also took the time to tell me about several components that I did not have the time to view.
Perhaps the most impressive was the "graded discussion forum" as he described it.
It is similar to the format of US medical school Problem based learning curriculums, or the similar European seminar, which I have not had the opportunity to see anywhere else outside of gradaute medical education prior to this.
The educational value of such a feature alone makes it well worth serious consideration when choosing a program of study.
(Certainly not the only consideration I would investigate when choosing an educational program I was going to pay several thousand dollars to and bank my future professional success on)
I have no doubt that there are probably many online medic mill type programs. I am already familiar with some of the more infamous ones.
But as far as current US paramedic education goes, NMETC is certainly not to be grouped in with them.
