August 2002

Distance Education In Your Professional Future
It's No Longer a Question of If Most Doctors Will Use It, But When
By Stephen T. Bolles, DC

View Distance Education Resources Here

In less than a decade, the Internet has become thoroughly woven into the fabric of our lives. Operating without it seems almost unthinkable to many doctors of chiropractic. The growth in adoption and utilization - and the growing number of resources available on the World Wide Web - is nothing short of amazing.

In 1993, Internet traffic expanded at an annual growth rate of 341,634%. By 2000, North American users numbered 140 million (90 million adults, including half women and half men), of an estimated 304 million users worldwide. As a reminder of how small our world has become, only about half of the users of the web are English-speaking.

In terms of resources, “information overload” is just a click away. The Internet search engine GoogleTM advertises that it has registered 2,073,418,204 pages. A recent Google search for the term “chiropractic” yielded about 759,000 “hits” (web pages with that word used at least once).

With the growth of the web, a number of different uses have been tried. Originally a way of sharing scientific information, the Internet has generated billions of dollars in new commercial markets, made people rich, made people poor, and allowed us to put pictures of the family goldfish on our personal web pages for everyone to see.

Education has become a significant use of the web in recent years: Essentially no institution of learning feels it can afford to not have a web presence. Institutions that range from kindergartens to those offering terminal degree programs have, or are developing, on-line learning opportunities. Others are completely “virtual” institutions, having no buildings or physical locations, existing purely in cyberspace.

The appeal of distance education via the Internet is not difficult to understand. This type of access allows the student to log on after the kids are in bed, or on the weekend between yard chores, without having to drive anywhere or otherwise disrupt family schedules. The concept has instant appeal. For many adult learners, distance (or “asynchronous,” or “online”) education has allowed them to pursue new careers without abandoning current jobs and paychecks.

For professional learners, especially those who need continuing education hours, the appeal is even more concrete. These learners usually need non-credit bearing courses that provide “refresher” or new, clinically relevant information. Distance education offers a neat solution, and the market has responded. For one Internet company that provides distance education, Healthstream, the numbers speak for themselves: In one quarter, their subscriber base went from 300,000 to 380,000 health-care professionals.

Another significant trend is the dramatic changes in gender ratios in various health-care professions. As women enter specific areas of healthcare in ever-increasing numbers, additional concerns such as balancing the demands in both career and home place significant additional pressures on scheduling continuing professional education - especially with the regular requirements of relicensure hours. Distance education offers more options and flexibility for women and men alike.

Increasing Access, Popularity
Obviously, a need is being filled. For doctors of chiropractic, the trend is there as well. As of this writing, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Life University, Logan College of Chiropractic, National University of Health Sciences, Southern California University of Health Sciences, Northwestern Health Sciences University, Palmer Institute for Profes-sional Advancement, Parker College of Chiropractic, and the University of Bridgeport have at least some form of online learning or an affiliation with a commercial enterprise. (See sidebar on page 38. For an updated list of chiropractic college distance education opportunities, visit www.chiroeco.com)

More and more state licensing boards are following suit, allowing distance education to fulfill C.E. requirements, in increasing numbers. Almost any citation of this information will be quickly dated, but as of June 2002, 31 state boards and two Canadian provinces accept some or all continuing education credits from online resources. Requirements vary widely; be sure to check with your licensing board for details.

As a market alone, it’s clear there is a need. In at least one school’s experience (Northwestern Health Sciences University), in the last three months of 2001, 350 DCs signed on to get some of their continuing education hours - with no marketing of the courses other than word-of-mouth.

Is Distance Education Right for You?
Well, all this is well and good, you may be saying, but you may not be sure if you even want to use distance education. This is a critical consideration, because it doesn’t matter how many people are using something if it’s not right for you. One of the most important things about education is that it has to work for you - not just the content, but also the delivery. The manner in which information is presented to someone is critical to how they retain it, and ultimately use it.

So the first question to ask yourself is: “How do I want to get my continuing education hours?” For many of us, getting together for a seminar is all-important. The seminar may serve not just a source of information, but also a source of comfort, a sense of belonging, an opportunity to reconnect with friends and peers, and a source of inspiration. There’s no doubt that getting re-energized and inspired about the wonders of chiropractic is a lot easier in an auditorium full of excited people than from a computer screen late at night in your home office.

So to get clear about what kind of strategy you want to establish for yourself, ask yourself a follow-up question: “For my continuing education needs, am I happiest when I am around other chiropractors? Will I feel dissatisfied if I don’t have that?” If the answer is “yes,” then distance education for you is either not going to be right, or is only going to be needed when you’re a few hours short and the end of the relicensure year is looming.

If the answer is not necessarily, then distance education may be more appropriate. That doesn’t mean you’re not social; it may simply mean that your lifestyle has other competitors for your time that need to be considered.

The next question to ask yourself is, “For my continuing education needs, do I want specialty training (generally larger numbers of hours), or do I want some variety (generally smaller numbers of hours)?” The answer to this question will also determine what you do, as more continuing education options come online in specialty clinical training, diplomate courses, and so on.

The next question, and in some ways most important, to ask yourself is, “How do I learn the best?” No one learning style fits everyone: Some of us are visual learners, some are tactile learners, and some require both. If you’re a tactile learner, sitting in a lecture or sitting in front of a computer screen is going to frustrate you quickly. It’s important to know how you learn best.

One of the problems with distance education is that in many cases, you don’t know what you’ve got until you purchase it. In some cases, however, you can “kick the tires” of an online course before you pay. At Northwestern Health Sciences University, for example, there are “open courses” that allow you to go through all materials simply as educational resources - only paying for them if you want the hours.

The last question may seem unimportant, but it’s really not: “How much do I want to be entertained?” One of the many reasons we go for philosophy, inspiration, or other energizing experiences in continuing education is one simple fact: We like to be entertained. The process may engage “more of us,” so to speak, versus simply reading or watching.

For educators, this “entertainment factor” is critical, and the clear trend is toward more arresting and engaging experiences, with multimedia presentations that involve action, color, music, and interactivity on the part of students. For distance education, this matters a lot. There is a whole lot of information on the web, but the delivery may sometimes be “flat,” meaning in some cases, there’s simply text, and the faster you read, the faster you get through it. One of the clear marketplace pressures on those who are presenting distance education is to up the ante when it comes to the entertainment value of their courses.

The Future of Online Learning
If you’re someone who is not comfortable around computers but would like to learn more, check out the “What You Need to Get Started” sidebar to this article on page 36. It will guide you through some of the basics you need to know - and questions you may need to ask - to get online and find some chiropractic distance education courses. If you’re someone who is comfortable getting online and simply need a collection of resources, refer to the sidebar “Distance Education Resources for Continuing Chiropractic Education” on this page as a starting point, and be sure to refer to www.chiroeco.com for updates to the information.

In many ways, online learning is still in its infancy. The market is growing, but it is not yet mature. Similar standards to “live” learning are not universally applied yet to distance ed in areas of assessment, and how institutions accommodate the normal human need for interactivity is still to be watched. Hybrid courses that involve both distance learning and live sessions are going to proliferate in the coming years.

But it’s clear that these educational options are here to stay, and for some chiropractic professionals they are already important. For others, that importance will likely become more apparent in the coming months and years.

Dr. Bolles is vice president for Institutional Advancement at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minn. He can be reached at sbolles@nwhealth.edu or 952-888-4777, ext. 411.