PITTSBORO - The North Carolina Community College Adult Educators Association honored Central Carolina Community College recently for creativity and innovation in its continuing education medical programs student orientation process.
The Honorable Mention Award was one of only three awards presented by the NCCCAEA's Innovation Awards program during the organization's 2012 Fall Conference Sept. 26-28 at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center in Raleigh Triangle Park.
CCCC was honored for creation of a web site where students enrolling in continuing education medical programs can view the required program orientation, rather than attend a live session.
CCCC provides workforce and university transfer education in Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties. Its Continuing Education Department serves a student population of approximately 18,700, many of whom enroll in medical programs.
Prior to February 2011, the orientation was a seated class requiring classroom space, copying services, paid instructors and staff support time. If a student missed the session, the department had to find a time for the instructor to follow up with the student or lose the student from the program.
Cindy Smith, the college's continuing education medical programs coordinator in Chatham County, first created a CD for students with the orientation information. Then she and the college's web developer, Morgan Steele, created a website, www.cccc.edu/ecd/medicalorientation, incorporating the information from the CD. This enables students to access orientation information online. The link is updated throughout each semester for the classes offered.
"Students can now take the class anytime, and as many times as is necessary," Smith said. "Students are able to access the website after registration and complete the session at their own pace. When they report for the first day of class, they are well prepared to begin, which saves the instructor the time of having to review the information."
Switching from an in-class orientation to a web-accessible orientation has allowed the department to cut costs, increase efficiency, and student proficiency, Smith said. All three counties now use the program, and it can be duplicated anywhere at minimal cost.