Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Thomas J. Thompson
Committee Member
Linda Lopez
Committee Member
Larry N. McCarthy
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
administrative resources, approval, clinical practice patterns, colleges of optometry, content experts, continuing education, continuing educators, continuing optometric education, continuing professional education, COPE, Coordinator, Council on Optometric Practitioner Education, course development, course evaluation, course format, course implementation, course qualification, credit hours, diagrams, distance education, Director, faculty resources, graphs, Impatica for PowerPoint, institutional development, internet, longitudinal study, mail questionnaire, MS PowerPoint, narrated courses, Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, NSUCO, OCOE, online courses, online questionnaire, optometrists, photos, policy, procedures, program evaluation, regulatory boards of optometry, relicensure, revenue source, staff resources, state board requirements, surveys, technology requirements, text, United States, usage patterns, Web Based Instruction, WebCT, worldwide optometrists
Abstract
The purpose of this project was to develop a plan to deliver online continuing education (CE) courses at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry (NSUCO) that would fulfill the mission, goals, and objectives of NSUCO as well as implement a new revenue source for the College’s institutional development. The plan addressed the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program as well as the courses.
Twelve research questions were put forward in this project. The questions asked what technologies; resources; costs; procedures; Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE) requirements; state board requirements; adaptations to WebCT; and course format need to be met to develop, implement, and evaluate online CE courses at NSUCO. Questions about which colleges of optometry and other CE providers offer online courses as well as optometrists’ opinions about online courses were addressed.
A mail questionnaire was sent to 17 schools and colleges of optometry; an online questionnaire was administered to approximately 3500 optometrists worldwide; the Internet was searched for online courses for optometrists; and current policies and procedures for obtaining course qualification from COPE and for obtaining approval from regulatory boards of optometry were determined. The product developed was a plan to develop, implement, and evaluate online CE courses at NSUCO.
Twelve conclusions ensued. The technologies required to deliver online continuing education courses at NSUCO are WebCT, MS PowerPoint, and Impatica for PowerPoint. The required administrative, faculty, and staff resources include a team composed of the Director of the Office of Continuing Optometric Education (OCOE), Coordinator of the OCOE, content experts drawn from faculty members inside and outside NSUCO as well as from the pool of continuing educators in the United States and abroad, and the staff. A significant number of optometrists are interested in taking online CE courses; online CE courses are one of their two preferred formats for obtaining their CE credits for relic ensure; and they prefer to take two credit hour narrated courses that contain text, photos, diagrams, and graphs at an average cost of $15.00 per credit.
It was recommended that a second survey of optometrists be conducted to determine preferences for specific online continuing education topics. Also, comparative studies should be conducted to determine satisfaction of optometrists taking either face-to-face courses or online courses and to determine resultant changes in clinical practice patterns. In addition, a longitudinal study to determine changes in patterns of usage of online continuing education courses by optometrists in the United States is also recommended.