Distance audiology program graduates first class

Imagine earning a doctoral degree without ever setting foot in a traditional classroom. Distance learning now makes it possible, and 117 UF students have become the first in the country to graduate from an audiology distance learning program created specifically for working professionals.

Designed by UF instructors, the program takes advantage of the Internet and other technologies yet still allows opportunities to interact with instructors and fellow students.

“This is a combined training model that uses a variety of educational methods. There are nine courses and each requires two clinical days during which students spend eight hours face-to-face with an instructor,” said Alice Holmes, associate professor in the department of communicative disorders in UF’s College of Health Professions and graduate coordinator of the distance learning program.

These on-site days are conducted at 22 locations throughout the country that serve as regional gathering points for groups of 10 to 20 students. A UF-selected facilitator mentors students at each site, and the meeting days consist of group discussions, presentations, assessment of clinical skills and written exams, Holmes said.

For the remainder of each course, students study on their own with UF-produced videotapes featuring instruction by UF and other national audiology experts. In addition, the students use workbooks and textbooks and meet weekly in Internet chatrooms for class discussions hosted by UF instructors or site facilitators.

Constructing the 45-credit-hour course took over a year of planning and grew out of a need to provide working professionals the same opportunity as on-campus students to obtain a doctoral degree, said Scott Griffiths, graduate coordinator of communications sciences and disorders with UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

To determine if there was interest in the program, UF partnered with Intelicus, a central Florida-based company that specializes in developing distance learning educational programs for the working professional, and sent 10,000 letters to audiologists throughout the country.

“Initially we were unsure of the interest level in a doctor of audiology degree delivered in a distance learning format, but it was soon realized that our concern was unfounded. The response was overwhelming: over 25 percent of the entire audiologist population contacted us for program information,” said Janine Moken, program manager with Intelicus.

But course planners were still cautious.

“Initially, I had doubts whether videotapes and the Internet would allow adequate interaction between students and instructors; that this would be some cold, impersonal program and that the quality of education would suffer. But what happened was just the opposite,” Griffiths said.

Prospective students had their misgivings as well. “At first I felt a real need for the kind of hands-on direction that had been provided in the traditional classroom. I missed being face-to-face with my professors two or three times a week,” said Melissa Albright, who graduated in the inaugural class. “However, as I adapted and became more comfortable with the format I found the questions are just as easily answered via e-mail.”

To provide classroom experience consistent with the more traditional setting, instructors offered “office hours” in chat-room format so students could just drop in and have discussions. The combination of multimedia formats seemed to work.

“Completion of the program has dramatically increased my competencies in numerous areas for which my master’s level training had not prepared me. It also enabled me to become current with the new technologies available and being used in our profession for the 21st century,” said Jimmy Guillory, also a recent class graduate.

Guillory, president and owner of Occupational Health Services Inc. in Lafayette, La., traveled a great distance to attend the on-site classes held during each eight-week session. One student came as far as Anchorage. Logistics aside, the UF program seemed the only way to pursue an advance degree.

“I could not have participated without the option of distance learning,” said Albright, who traveled from Virginia to North Carolina. “Like many in the program, I not only have professional responsibilities but also have a family to consider. This offered me the freedom to go to class when it was most convenient for me.”

The doctorate in audiology is endorsed by the American Academy of Audiology and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.