UC College of Allied Health Sciences Health Information Management Online Program Offers Students 21st Century Skills

Pamela Greenstone, assistant professor of health information management at the University of Cincinnati, implements both learning and communication technologies into her courses in order to best prepare students to love and work in a technology-based workforce.

“Usually our students are the ones managing electronic health records now, so it’s really important that they are familiar with different technologies and able to use them,” Greenstone said.

There are now 175 students enrolled in Allied Health’s associate of science to bachelor of science online program in Health Information Management since the program was introduced in 2005. Since then the program has evolved to use many different forms of eLearning technologies. Today all 10 courses in the program use WebEx, Kaltura, and ePortfolios in some form.

Greenstone said this is because many Health Information students currently work from home, or will do so in the future, so it is essential for them to be familiar with different communication technologies they can use in their job settings. 

“What we try to do is use any technology that will benefit students in the long run and really bring some relevancy to our program,” Greenstone said.

She added that the key to implementing new technologies into courses is to provide good instructions for both the students and instructors on how to use them, especially in an online setting where many students have not been in school for a long time. 

Students in the program currently use WebEx to hold group meetings for projects, chat with their professors during online office hours, and listen to guest speakers. They can also showcase their work to future employers using ePortfolios, as they build new assets into their portfolio with each class taken. Kaltura is used for class lectures, narrated PowerPoints, and introduction videos.

“I try not to interject a lot of new technologies at once,” Greenstone said. “We try something, and if it doesn’t work we go back to the drawing board and do something else.”