CAREers Over Distance Education
(Health Care and Careers Over Distance Education)

Section 3: Nebraska Target Area for CTE Improvement
#6 - Counseling and career development. Students in career and technical education programs will have access to comprehensive guidance/counseling as well as quality career development services.

Background that Identifies the need for the Innovative Grant:
In June of 2002, the Tri-Valley Distance Education Consortium was awarded a Careers and Technical Education Innovative grant - “Enhancing Career and Technical Education Over Distance Education”. The goal for this project was ‘to provide career and technical education opportunities for students and teachers by identifying and sharing educational resources over the the distance education network’.

The outcomes from that grant included the training of six student-teacher teams to develop career and technical education enrichment lessons. These lessons were to be shared with students and teachers to enhance courses in the career and technical education fields.

Eleven enrichment programs ranging from merchandising (business), meeting a chef and cultures in America (FCS), video journalism (careers), drafting and agriculture (industrial technology and vocational agriculture), sports medicine, physical therapy, and lobbying (general) were created and have been or will be shared over distance education with students throughout the TVDEC.

The project did lead to identifying and sharing of educational resources but

• could this project be moved to a higher level?
• could students from area schools meet over distance education each day and extend their learning
• could teachers from different disciplines co-teach the class?
• could there be a career area that needs attention for current student part-time or future professional employment?
• could a course model be designed that could be duplicated with other technical areas?

With the goal of the CAREers Over Distance Education project being to provide K-12 students instructional and hands-on health care opportunities through partnerships with education and health care agencies, this project can be that next step as:

• a semester health care class would be team taught by a careers educator and a science instructor from Holdrege and Pleasanton Public Schools.
• a series of health care enrichment lessons would be presented by area health professionals
• students would design and present multimedia lessons to TVDEC K-12 students and community organizations.
• school administrators would evaluate the project to see if it could be replicated to support career connections within other curricular areas.

Why has the health career field been selected for the project?

1. During the past years, school administrators have expressed a need for health career education classes over distance education. Many if not most of our area communities have health care facilities and many students do part-time work. Having such courses would be a huge benefit to the students and to the health service community.
2. Statistics show that America has an aging workforce, aging population, and decreased numbers going into the health care profession which points to an upcoming health care crisis.
3. There are tremendous opportunities for establishing partnerships in support of careers in the health care field. The Central Nebraska Area Health Education Center organization has a goal of ‘improving the supply and distribution of healthcare professionals through partnerships among healthcare, academic, and community partnerships.’ Area health organizations such as Phelps Community Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital, and the Buffalo County Health Care Organization provides education instruction and shadowing opportunities for students. The University of Nebraska at Kearney and Central Community College can extend introductory education through health educational degree programs.

Identify how the Innovation Grant will address the identified need:
How effective is career counseling within a school’s daily curriculum? Through this innovative grant, a guidance counselor and a science teacher will co-teach the health career course insuring the connection between career and curriculum. Through this collaboration between teaching specialists and the two schools, there will be a model of how career integration can be supported within all curriculum instruction.
Identify how funding the Innovative grant will assist in the improvement of career and technical education in your school/consortium:

During this time of tightening budgets and limited resources, schools are not likely to be introducing new programs. Yet if schools think outside the boundaries, they could generate ways to collaborate their limited resources to provide new student opportunities.

In the CAREers Over Distance Education project, the Pleasanton and Holdrege schools will be using the existing distance education network and teaching specialists to restructure their current career and health science based class.

The funds from this grant provide the final piece which will enable the teaching specialists to plan, purchase, and present the curriculum to their students and extend it through distance education to other students in the Tri-Valley Distance Education Consortium.

During 2003-2004, Tri-Valley member schools will be informed about the progress of this project. Tri-Valley member schools will be invited to participate in the distance education enrichment activities and if there is interest, the program may be initiated at other schools by second semester.

For students at Pleasanton and Holdrege Public Schools, this will be the first step for initiating health care programs into their curriculum Administrators, teachers, students, and health partners will review the projects and determine ways to continue as well as extend these opportunities in the health and other career and technical education areas.

Section 4: Priorities
Target Area - Students in career and technical education programs will have access to comprehensive guidance/counseling as well as quality career development services.

Project Goal
The CAREers Over Distance Education project is to provide K-12 students instructional and hands on health care opportunities through partnerships with education and health care agencies.

The core indicator that will be addressed by the goal is the attainment of challenging academic, career and technical skill proficiencies.

Measurement of Success -
Impact on Core Indicator - The CAREers Over Distance Education project provides students challenging opportunities as

1. the curriculum will be a high level multimedia based series of the ever-growing health care field. The series will provide students with the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to be successful in an entry level health care field or preparation for vocational health goals supported through higher education.
2. students will be collaborating with instructors, students, and health professionals at remote sites
3. students will develop multimedia health care units which will be shared with students in grades K-12.

The following page includes the methods for evaluating the project. During the summer of 2003, the health team will prepare the pre-assessment activities and lesson plans. The results of the project will be shared with interested organizations at conferences and in the final project report.

Student Outcomes

Instructor Outocmes

Objectives:	Activities	Timeline	Person Responsibility	Category
Provide a career health education curriculum designed to give students knowledge and hands-on experience in the health care field.	Career health team will meet to develop the core health curriculum.	July 2003	Project director and health career team.	1b) Stipends/Extended Contract Time
	Using the distance education network, students at 9-12 level will participate in a semester long health career course with study focused in four core health areas.	August 2003-May 2004	Health career team	4b) Instructional materials - Applied Technologies Health Science Education Series
Create partnerships with the Central Nebraska Area Health Education Center, Phelps County Hospital, University of Nebraska Kearney and Central Community College to share career and shadowing opportunities.	Health education and professional partnership teams will prepare interactive presentation series of health career topics targeted at students in grades K-12.	August - September 2003	Project director and educational/health organizations
	Health professions will share career opportunities to K-12 students in the Tri-Valley consortium. These enrichment lessons will be shared over the Tri-Valley Distance Education Network.	September 2003 - April 2004	Project director and educational/health organizations	7) Capital Outlay - Polycom purchase
	Instructors involved in career education will be introduced to the health enrichment series programs in a one-hour after school workshop.	September 2003-April 2004	Project director	1b) Stipends/Extended Contract Time - distance education training
Students from participating schools will share health career connections with K-12 TVDEC students and community organizations.	The career health class will be provided multimedia training to support career health project development.	September 2003	Project director and ESU 10 and 11 technology trainers
	The student career health class will create video support units based around the four core career health areas.	Completed by December 2003 - Presented during second semester 2004.	Project team leaders and participating students	7) Capital Outlay - Video camera, LCD Projector, or Laptop Computer

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Explanation of activities and strategies based on the objectives of the project.

The CAREers Over Distance Education project will go from July, 2003 through June, 2004. The following activities will support the objectives of the project:

Objective 1: Provide a career health education curriculum designed to give students knowledge and hands-on experience in the health care field.

The CAREers Over Distance Education project will be initiated during the summer of 2003. During July and August, the Health Career team will be responsible to plan the project. The health career team will include Bob Bednar, Pleasanton Public Schools career counselor; Jeff VanEperen, Holdrege Public Schools science instructor; and John Stritt, TVDEC and project director.

Primary responsibilities for team members include:

• Bob Bednar, guidance counselor will coordinate the enrichment series program. Mr. Bednar will work with partner organizations to schedule professional presentations in support of the established curriculum. He will also work with Holdrege Public Schools guidance department to plan job shadowing and health fair participation opportunities for students in the class. Mr. Bednar will support students in their multimedia projects.
• Jeff VanEperen, science instructor, will coordinate the four health career instructional units for the course. Mr. VanEperen will post lessons to the University of Nebraska-Kearney Blackboard course management software program. Mr. VanEperen will also support students in multimedia project strategies.
• John Stritt, project director, and ESU 10 will serve as the fiscal agent for the project. Mr. Stritt will work with Mr. Bednar and Mr. VanEperen to schedule enrichment lessons with TVDEC schools, to train teachers involved in these enrichment lessons, and to plan student multimedia training time.

Beginning with the fall semester, the CAREers Over Distance Education course will be offered over the distance education network to students from Pleasanton and Holdrege Public Schools. The one semester course will include four modules of health care study. Based upon student interest, the course may be offered again during the second semester.

The health modules adopted for this course are part of the Applied Technologies Health Science Education Series. This hands-on series has been recommended by the Central Nebraska Area Health Education Center (AHEC). The four career clusters include forensic science, laboratory procedures, imaging diagnostics, and sports medicine.

As the class will be using two modules per quarter, other Tri-Valley member schools will be invited to check out the modules for use within their district. Each district that uses the modules will be responsible for replenishing the supply kits.

Objective 2: Create partnerships with the Central Nebraska Area Health Education Center, Phelps Memorial Health Center, University of Nebraska Kearney and Central Community College to share career and shadowing opportunities using the Tri-Valley Distance Education (TVDEC) network.

Students from Tri-Valley schools will have the opportunity to join with Pleasanton and Holdrege students as they learn more about the health care field from health professionals. In one day enrichment lessons, health and educational professionals can share about their professions with a focus on the four health career clusters. These partnerships may also lead to job shadowing and health fair opportunities.

Teachers from TVDEC schools who elect to participate in these enrichment lessons will be provided an enrichment lesson workshop. The workshop will be presented after school over the distance education network. The training will include an overview of the distance education system, how to prepare their students for a distance education presentation, and a preview of the lesson their students will be participating in.

Objective 3: Students from participating schools will share health career connections with K-12 TVDEC students and community organizations.
With statistics that point to an aging population requiring increased number of health care professionals, discussion of health careers is important at the K-12 level. The suggested model of this instruction is:

• K-5 Introductions to health areas
• 6-8 Science connections
• 9-12 Related to instructional project units

Students who are participating in the semester course will create multimedia units to target the suggested K-12 model. These multimedia presentations will be made available to Tri-Valley students and community organizations.

To prepare these students, ESU 10 and 11 will provide a one day workshop on multimedia and strategies for creating a lesson.

Objective 4: The project will be shared with administrators, faculty, and health care organizations.
Currently there are no classes being jointly instructed by two instructors from different disciplines over the Tri-Valley Distance Education network. This will also be the only career class and health science class that is taught over the network.

As this is an innovative way of sharing teachers in support of a greatly needed vocational skill, it is very important that the outcomes from this project be shared.

The project team will begin sharing this project to Tri-Valley member schools during the fall 2003. Information shared with consortium members includes:

• the goal, objectives, and activities of the project
• enrichment opportunities that would be available to students in their schools
• support to schools interested in using the health care modules during second semester.

In June, the health care team will share the project at the Nebraska Distance Learning Association Conference and Invest 2004.