Online course profile

Our third week’s blog post is about designing a course profile. To have a better understanding of how to fill the necessary sections of the ADDIE template, I had to do further readings, and I came across the Remote/Online Course Design Checklist on the University of Toronto’s website, which creates a simple road map on basic things that need to be considered when designing online learning courses. So, let’s get started with specifics about the course. See the link to my ADDIE: Medical Terminology Course Profile

Welcome to this online course. MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY (MTHS101)

This course is designed for medical students and professionals interested in learning or refreshing their knowledge and application of healthcare languages. This course is also relevant for medical-related professionals who work in non-clinical healthcare careers and students who aspire to work in these fields. These include fields like medical transcriptionists, continuing care assistants, healthcare administrators, and health information managers

Common CNA Medical Terminology

For example, there is a growing need for health administrators across the country because they are essential to the efficient running of medical institutions. However, many students enrolled in health administration courses often struggle to understand and use medical terms. Medical terminology is a foundational skill and language required by many healthcare professionals to enable them to communicate clearly and effectively across various settings. Without proper instruction, health administration students may find it difficult to interpret and document medical conditions, patient information, billing and coding procedures, interact with patients, and communicate with other healthcare professionals. This lack of knowledge can cause mistakes in patient care and inefficient administrative processes, as well as make students less credible in their responsibilities.

Course delivery

This is a self-directed online course that will run synchronously for 9 weeks with daily class reviews through Zoom, and course content, assignments, and related materials will be shared using Google Classroom. Videos and live photos of content related to the course will also be shared during the class review.

All assignments and exams are done online through Google documents that will be shared in the course’s Google Classroom site.

Course structure

  • Topic 1: Introduction to Medical language and health care today
  • Topic 2: Respiratory system
  • Topic 3: Cardiovascular system
  • Topic 4: Nervous system
  • Topic 5:  Integumentary system
  • Topic 6: Gastrointestinal system
  • Topic 7: Blood and lymphatic system
  • Topic 8: Skeletal system
  • Topic 9: Urinary system

 

Course objective and learning outcome

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Identify, describe, and pronounce the combining words that form the foundation of medical terms
  • Understand the meaning of medical term constructions and its relation to anatomy and physiology
  • Identify and describe the major anatomical position, body systems, plane and direction
  • Identify the various structures of the human body and describe their functions
  • Identify and describe common diseases and how they are diagnosed and treated.
  • Explain the critical role of accurate medical terminology in various healthcare professions.

Assessment Overview

Assessment of this course will be done through the following:

  • Online Quiz(zes), weighted at 20%
  • Assignment Weighted at 30%
  • Exam Weighted at 50%

The minimum passing rate for the assessment is 70%

Time allowed for online quiz (zes) is 120 minutes

Quiz(zes) are done during Friday class with webcam’s on.

Here are free resources that can also help in learning this course:

Medical Terminology Quizzes

Interactive medical terminology exercises

Learning Materials

All core readings for this unit are provided for free through the Building a Medical Terminology Foundation—Simple Book Publishing, which will be uploaded on the unit’s Google Classroom site. However, if you would like additional readings, you may wish to purchase:

  • Textbook: Medical Language: Immense Yourself, 5th edition, Susan M. Turley, Pearson Canada
  • Pearson Canada: My Medical Terminology Lab. Students can have access to online resources and quizzes to each chapter to enhance learning. Links are available in the contents.

IT Resources

You will need access to the following IT resources:

  • University Student Email
  • Internet
  • Unit Website (Google Classroom)

Attendance

  • Regular online attendance in this course is mandatory to ensure optimal learning. Though the medium is different from regular classes, it is still expected for you to be interactive and participative in every online and offline activity.
  • Should there be any mitigating situation that could lead to a student’s absence, please notify the instructor accordingly before the class.
  • Students are responsible for learning any missed material due to absence(s).
  • Students are required to review the course material before coming to class in order to develop a basic understanding of the course content.

Benefits and Concerns of the HyFlex Model

HyFlex Learning represents an educational model that integrates both hybrid and flexible methodologies. The hybrid component pertains to instruction delivered either in-person or through online platforms, whereas the flexible aspect pertains to the autonomy granted to students in determining their mode of attendance, whether virtually or physically. In other words, HyFlex learning is distinguished by its hybrid and flexible methodology, which empowers students to select between attending in-person or engaging online within the same course. According to the Ideal Consortium, this structure offers learners three distinct avenues for participation in the course:

  • in-person attendance
  • virtual engagement during synchronous sessions using a web conferencing application, or
  • the completion of asynchronous activities.

Each mode of instruction remains consistently accessible, except in situations when in-person classes are necessitated to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions or other emergencies. According to Beatty, this instructional model is “an approach to serving fully online students without abandoning current classroom students,” and it aspires to cultivate a flexible educational environment that caters to the varied needs and preferences of students (choosing what is best for them on a weekly or daily basis).

In his work, Beatty explained that the HyFlex approach shares similar characteristics with other instructional formats used in higher education institutions around the world, like Mode-Neutral, Multi Access Learning, Flex Learning, Converged Learning, Peirce Fit, Multi Options, Flexibly Accessible Learning Environment (FALE), Blendflex, Comodal, Flexible Hybrid, Synchronous Learning in Distributed Environments (SLIDE), gxLearning, Blendsync, and Remote Live Participation (RLP).

HyFlex learning offers a flexible learning model that allows students to choose between in-person and online attendance, accommodating individual schedules and preferences (Cumming et al., 2024). This model supports accelerated course delivery, aligning with students’ desires for speed and convenience (Dickinson et al., 2024), while also catering to diverse student needs and enhancing participation and retention rates (Dickinson et al., 2024; Yang et al., 2024). It increases access to courses (e.g., when in-person attendance is problematic or when desired classes are scheduled concurrently), students tend to have greater control over their daily schedules, and the flexibility to choose the most effective learning methods to meet their individual needs and preferences (Beatty, 2019).

The work of Beatty also explains how the HyFlex model provides opportunities for faculty to develop online teaching skills without sacrificing in-person instruction, provide a built-in alternative for students facing scheduling conflicts, and serve more students with existing resources.According to Dickinson et al. (2024), the model supports varied learning styles and can accelerate course delivery, aligning with students’ preferences for convenience and efficiency. This aligns with the work of Beatty, which explains how faculty valued the HyFlex model due to its increased capacity to support diverse learning needs through this flexible model and providing opportunities to conduct pedagogical research on their own teaching practices and potentially publish their findings within their academic discipline.

While HyFlex learning presents innovative solutions for modern education, it also raises concerns in several areas. For instance, Tulekova et al. (2023) claim that the HyFlex model can restrict meaningful interactions, as students may not engage as fully in discussions or collaborative activities when participating online. Moreover, the online component of this model requires substantial time management skills (Beatty). Studies suggest that remote learning can sometimes lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from peers, potentially impacting student engagement and academic performance (McInnerney & Roberts, 2004; Gillis & Szabo, 2024). Nevertheless, it is believed that implementing the HyFlex model will require significant investments in technology and faculty training, which may present a challenge for some institutions. This could also extend to students, as argued in the work of Beatty, where he indicated that students could lack the personal and technical resources most commonly required: hardware, network access, the ability to engage with online learning platforms, and the ability to learn through mediated experiences. These resources are essential for successful participation in the online version of the course. I also think that giving students autonomy to choose how they want to attend instructions could compromise the depth of learning for some students who may prioritize convenience over active engagement.

Reflecting on the above discussion and aligning it with the evolving educational landscape characterized by the use of emerging technologies, particularly those that emerged during the health crisis, there is clear indication that the HyFlex model presents a promising future for education due to its flexibility and adaptability. However, I believe teachers utilizing this approach require ongoing training and professional development on strategies that effectively integrate various learning modalities, with a particular emphasis on assessment and student engagement. Furthermore, while student autonomy in lesson participation is valuable, it may need to be carefully guided or controlled to prevent situations where courses devolve entirely into online learning. In such classrooms, clear expectations for both online and in-person participation must be established and consistently communicated to students.