Dear students (and faculty and staff being kept in the loop),
I hope you are all well. Only a few new things are happening here, tho’ that hasn’t prevented this email from being quite long. Imagine if I drank coffee. To review previous emails as well as information from other administrators, covid-19-information. Unless superseded by information in this email, they are still applicable.
Zoom Training
By now you should have received information about our technical training course “TTS”. Completing this training course is absolutely critical in preparing you for our online learning environment. The TTS course will guide you through downloading and installing the necessary software and becoming acquainted with our online systems. The start of the term is rapidly approaching. You’ll want to complete this training as soon as possible to give yourself time to resolve problems before the start of the term. If you need help getting started, please go to StudentHub and submit a ticket. There is a link on the top right of the page that says “contact/ submit ticket”. The IT team will be able to point you in the right direction and get you into the training course.
In addition, the tech team is offering four live webinars a day. These webinars are designed to give you extensive training on Zoom (beyond what’s in the TTS training course). In addition, this is an excellent opportunity to ask questions of a tech expert about anything in the TTS course. We are sending out daily reminder emails for the live webinars, so be sure to attend one. It will be well worth your time. Again, if you need help with anything tech related be sure to go to StudentHub and submit a ticket. Our tech team is standing by and ready to help.
Master Classes
We had another amazing Master Class with Lillian Bridges on Friday. If you missed it, you can see it and all our other cool content.
On Tuesday, we’ll have Deirdre Courtney discussing Yang Sheng. John Chen will continue his series on herbs and Covid on April 30. Go to the link above, subscribe to our channel. You can set a reminder for Deirdre and John’s presentations.
National Commission for Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM)
NCCAOM is providing temporary exceptions for upcoming graduates. NCCAOM will allow students to take exams no earlier than 60 days prior to the anticipated graduation date. For details, see the NCCAOM website. I’ve pasted information relevant to the exception here, however, there is more information regarding upcoming exams. Good news from NCCAOM.
NCCAOM Graduating Student Assistance
Understanding the difficult situation that many 2020 graduating students face in light of interruptions to on-campus and in-person educational activities, the NCCAOM will begin working with ACAOM-approved and ACAOM-candidate school administrators to provide a temporary exception for all students graduating between April 2020 and December 31, 2020. By making this option available, we hope to expedite the graduate’s opportunity to obtain a state license during this challenging time. It is important to note that the candidate will not become NCCAOM-certified until the school has submitted their official graduation transcript along with successfully passing of all required NCCAOM exams and submitting the CNT certification from CCAOM. The NCCAOM will only work directly with school administrators and will not grant this exception directly with students. Once again, this exception is temporary due to the current situation and will end January 1, 2021.
- Each ACAOM School to complete this Questionnaire and upload list of graduates.
- Each student will receive an email invitation to submit an NCCAOM application no earlier than 60 days prior to the anticipated graduation date.
- After the application is submitted, the student’s name will appear on the School Portal.
- The school official will then upload the student’s transcript and the NCCAOM® Student Graduation Verification Form
For students who were scheduled to take Clean Needle Technique (CNT) exam but were unable to take it due to class cancellations, NCCAOM will accept verification that you were scheduled and that you have scheduled for future (if possible) temporarily in lieu of the exam. You will not receive your NCCAOM Certification until you have submitted the completed CNT, but you will not be delayed in taking the exams in because you were unable to complete and submit the CNT results. More flexibility from NCCAOM. We applaud them.
Acupuncture Clinic
As I’ve mentioned previously, I am inviting well-known acupuncturists to provide guest lectures, discussions, or case studies during our online clinic shifts. This week, I asked each Pacific Symposium 2020 speaker to participate. We will also be extending our request to other friends and alumni of Pacific College. So far the following wonderful and generous people have joined the effort. Please give them virtual high fives and hugs on behalf of the entire Pacific College family, if they are on one of your shifts.
- Cameron Bishop
- Matt Callison
- Felice Dunas
- Dustin Dillberg
- Justin Flores
- Shellie Goldstein
- Neil Gumenick
- David Hashemipour
- Bill Helm
- Peter Holmes
- Butch Levy
- Andrew Nugent-Head
- Jeremy Pulsifer
- Clayton Shiu
- Mary Elizabeth Wakefield
- Sabine Wilms
- Lorraine Wilcox
Speaking of deserving high fives and virtual hugs, our Pacific faculty have been working hard to learn Zoom and create learning resources. They are working with the IT department (who all deserve our appreciation, too) to get the class Moodle shells ready for our Spring semester.
If you think a career in holistic medicine is something you would like to pursue, contact us and speak to an admissions representative to get started on your new journey!
Online Acupuncture Clinic Credit
We obtained a waiver from NYSED for MSAc interns scheduled to graduate at the end of Winter 2020 semester. MSTOM students are fine because they have exceeded the minimum clinical training hours required by NYSED. We will be submitting similar waiver requests for students scheduled to graduate at the end of Spring 2020.
I have reviewed the CA Acupuncture Board (CAB) regulations in painful detail and believe they allow online clinical training without limit. I have sent another query to CAB. I don’t want to delay this email while waiting for their response, so I will update you on that as soon as I hear. My advice is still to sign up for your normal clinic load.
Online Instructional Design
Fully developed online education will be new to many students (and faculty). I would like to ask your assistance in making these courses as productive and meaningful as humanly possible. We have an opportunity to do something special here. It occurred to me that the creativity of 1500 individual students and faculty could be applied to our instructional design. I’d like to hear every creative idea about what we can do to make our online classes the most productive, meaningful, educational, inspiring, interesting and fun experience possible.
Here’s how to convey your ideas. Send an email to [email protected]. Please limit the use of that email to online instructional design ideas, ok? Here are a few ways to start to think about this:
- Teams – group projects are nothing new, but they can strengthen the sense of connection in virtual classrooms.
- Games – can you create a fun game in the online space that will reinforce the knowledge being conveyed?
- Search – can faculty challenge you to locate some key information on the Web while in the online class that will help everyone learn the material better, faster or retain it longer?
- Service – is there something that students can create individually or in groups as a class project that will be useful to future students, patients, faculty, or president of a health and science college ?
- Shared space – can the class create a collaborative space where students share study tips, or other life skills?
- Video – can students create videos that enliven the educational space?
I can’t wait to hear from you and see your ideas. Remember, use the [email protected] email address.
Back to Onsite Classes?
It’s looking like shelter-in-place will go on longer in New York and Chicago than any of us had hoped. San Diego is less clear. We continue to consider all information. Odds favor keeping didactic courses online through the Spring semester, with hands-on classes and clinic opening if/when it seems feasible and of benefit to students and patients.
Final thoughts
Again, to review previous emails as well as information from other administrators, covid-19-information. Unless superseded by information here, they are still applicable.
If you have individual questions about your classes, schedule, FA, etc. please contact your campus director, registrar, financial aid department, etc. While I am always happy to hear from you, I am generally useless when it comes to specific cases.
However, I definitely want your creative ideas for online education. Remember to send them to [email protected] instead of my personal email.
Take care everyone,
Jack
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