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The DMS program at Montgomery College is offered in a blended format with
hands on training and online learning through WebCT
delivery. During
face to face labs with instructors students receive hands on
learning as well as the convenience of having the freedom to
learn at their own pace in the comfort of their own home.
It is nice to have access to lectures, quizzes,
homework, etc… at noon or midnight, whether at home, in the
office, or on vacation.
The instructors are available in the lab for scanning
demonstrations, hands on one-on-one guidance and support,
online during live lectures as well as during flexible open
scanning labs. Many
students appreciate the convenience of not having to
commute, having access to all their learning materials in
one place, the user friendly online platform, and the
freedom of independent learning.
Therefore, if a student is are eager to learn, has
great time organization and time management skills, and are
motivated to be a health professional in the exciting field
of diagnostic medical sonography; then please check out the
Montgomery College Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program.
All three sonography tracks; vascular, echo and
general are available online.
To find out more about online learning, please visit Montgomery College’s
Office
of Distance Learning where you can find a step by step
online
orientation and
tutorial to acquaint yourself with the online education
format at Montgomery College.
Frequently
Asked Questions about Distance Learning at Montgomery
College
If the Sonography program is offered
online, would I ever have to come to school?
Yes, you
do come to school. Each week you will come to school one to
two days a week for scheduled face to face labs and open
scan labs. Before the start of each semester you will be
provided the course schedule, nothing will be a surprise.
During your face to face lab sessions you may ask questions,
participate in group discussions, participate in hands on
scanning demonstrations and have plenty of time to practice
scanning. Montgomery College has a state of the art scanning lab with
ultrasound machines, computers and tons of learning
resources. In
addition to the scheduled face to face lab sessions, there
are open scan labs. During an open scan lab you can seek
additional time to practice your scanning skills; this will
help to reinforce what is learned in face to face scanning
labs and at clinicals. It is during these additional scan
labs that you can spend as much time that is needed for you
to learn to scan and learn to feel comfortable with the
ultrasound machines and all the scanning protocols.
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What
does an online classroom look like?
If you
have never taken an online course, Montgomery Colleges
Office
of Distance Learning has an
orientation and
tutorial that walks you through a “typical” online
classroom. In an online classroom, there are places to view
assignments, assessments, classroom discussions, a calendar
with a schedule of events, the grade book which tracks
progress in the course, website links, and course e-mail.
Every week there will be an assignment and quiz to complete.
Assignments are uploaded through the assignment link.
Getting used to
online learning can be challenging at first but it will come
much more easily once you have spent a week or two learning
in this environment.
There is a weekly discussion board that presents
students questions and asks them to discuss and describe a
topic related to what is being learned that week. The
website link has useful websites that can be visited related
to the class. With the built in calendar tool you can become
very organized because you have a list of everything that is
due for the month and you also can personalize the calendar
with whatever you have on your own agenda. At the end of
each week you can view your grades on the grade book link.
You will have a list of all your assignments, quizzes and
discussion grades for each week. At anytime you can
communicate via email through WebCT. There is a roster for
you to choose any of your classmates to write an email along
with the instructor, this makes it really easy to
communicate.
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What is a discussion board?
A discussion board is a way to discuss a topic, ask for help
or simply communicate with your classmates about the
material being covered, experiences you are having off
campus at clinicals or just a way to get clarification on a
question you have. A question or explanation of some sort
will be asked on Sunday by your instructor and you will have
to post a response to the instructors question by the
following Wednesday. Along with your response you will ask a
question for your fellow classmates to reply to. This is how
the communication between students gets started. Following
your response, you have to reply to two of your classmates
questions by the following Saturday. This is graded and is
an important part of the online classroom. The instructor
for the course will also reply to some of the questions and
this helps make a good discussion and provide clarification
for questions that go unanswered by your classmates.
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How am I tested, are the exams online?
There are
weekly quizzes to complete online.
They are located in the assessment link in your
online classroom. You have the entire week to take the quiz,
so once you feel comfortable enough with the weekly material
that you are studying you can then take the quiz.
All quizzes are due at the end of the week.
Because midterm and final exams are much longer and
are meant to simulate what a board exam may look like, you
are asked to come on campus to take those exams, where they
are online, proctored exams.
These exams mimic the national board exams that you
will take once you successfully graduate from the program.
Exams are timed, you are allowed approximately one
minute per question which mimics how the board exams are
administered.
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How will we know the material for
each week if we don’t have a specific lecture for that week?
Before
the start of the semester, each online course will be set up
and organized by weeks for you, which reflect the weeks of
the college semester. You will have all the material you
need for each week, including, assessments, discussions,
assignments, and lectures. Each week there will be lecture
notes that you will need to read online or print out and
read. At the end of each lecture there will be a set of self
test questions that will help you to understand the material
you have just covered. The questions are multiple choices
and also mimic the board exam questions. They are not graded
they are meant to test you on the material you just read. In
addition to the material presented online, there are online
live lecture sessions that you participate in that allow you
to listen to the instructor explain, review and discuss
questions posed by the students who choose to participate.
These scheduled live online sessions are optional and
students can choose to participate live or go back at their
leisure and listen to a recorded live session.
These sessions are called
Elluminate Sessions, and they are just another way to
interact and participate with online education.
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If you have questions how do you get
them answered?
This is when your classmates really come in to help you. You
will form a tight bond with them and they may be the first
ones you call or e-mail when you need help.
That is what is nice about online learning, there is
always someone online to help you out, and your classmates
really come through for you.
You can also call or post an e-mail for your
instructor, but because there is only one instructor (and
many more students) it usually takes 24-48 hours for them to
get an answer back to you. Don’t forget that you are
also on campus, so questions can be solved in person too.
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What is the online atmosphere like?
When you are online
you can access everything you need from day one. You must be
very organized with deadlines. When you are logged in to
your course and online, there is a feature that allows you
to see who is online studying at the same time as you.
You can send them a live message and ask them to chat
with you. Overall, the online courses in the Diagnostic
Medical Sonography Program are organized and become easy to
navigate with time. When you come to class each week you
need to be extremely organized with your questions,
deadlines seem to creep up on you, so you need to keep on
top of things. If you can keep organized and manage your
time then you will get the best that the online classes have
to offer such as being able to make your own personal study
schedule that works best for you and your daily life. Don’t
put things off to the last minute because a lot of the work
you do needs to be researched and it takes time to learn.
The best advice you can follow, is to have a schedule
that you can follow each week. Do all your discussion topics
one day, assignments another day, while reading your
chapters and lectures each day. This will ensure that by the
end of the week you will be able to take quiz and then move
on to the next week’s material. Being organized is the most
important aspect of an online program.
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