For just over a year, Montgomery Community College (MCC) has been offering online continuing education opportunities to emergency medical services (EMS) personnel thanks to an Allied Health Enhancement Grant. Classes began in the summer of 2007 and focused on providing the required continuing education necessary for first responders, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics to maintain certification. The online format makes the classes accessible and convenient for the hectic work schedules of these individuals. Emergency medical dispatchers (EMD) are also required to take a minimum of 12 hours of continuing education per year. As with other EMS staff, the normal classroom delivery style of education is difficult for staff who work 12 hour shifts, rotating days, nights and weekends. EMS agencies were required to do the training themselves or EMDs had to find classes that would work around their schedules. Now, thanks to MCC EMS program coordinator and FirstHealth EMS director, Donna Strong and deputy director of Richmond County emergency services, Donna Wright, online continuing education classes are now available for EMDs at Montgomery Community College. Strong helped develop the online EMS program and became coordinator last May. Wright began teaching EMD online courses this fall. She came into the job somewhat unexpectedly. Wright was taking an online EMS class last June and asked Strong if MCC could also provide EMD training because there was such a great need for it at her agency. Strong said, “I asked her if she was volunteering.” When Wright agreed to help, they immediately began to work on the curriculum. MCC’s dean of education technology, Tom Sargent was instrumental in getting the course set up online. “One of the reasons we wanted to work with MCC was that we worked with Blackboard [MCC’s online course management system] and Tom’s department before,” Strong said. “Blackboard is perfect for these classes and Tom has always been a great help to us.” According to Wright, course content varies each time it is offered in order to cover the many facets of the EMD’s job. Wright and Strong develop the curricula as well as teach classes and work full-time at their agencies. Strong says the problem is finding enough instructors to teach the courses. “The response to these courses has been overwhelming,” said Strong. The first class had 112 students and over 300 signed up for the second class. “We don’t want to take any more students than we think we can provide a quality class to. We are trying to recruit more instructors before we promote the classes.” Gary Saunders, dean of continuing education at MCC, works out the registration process to ensure there are only 50 students to a section. “We had five sections for this last class,” Saunders said. In addition, Wright says these are the only EMD courses she knows of that are offered online, which is one reason she and Strong are working so hard to keep up with the demand. EMD classes are offered once a month through MCC’s continuing education department, and students have one week to complete the class. Topics change each month. The class is self-guided and generally includes handouts and a PowerPoint presentation or video to review for discussion. There is typically a 10 question test at the end. The entire class is instructor facilitated. If there are technical issues, MCC’s education technology department is available for help. Strong says she is working towards putting out a calendar for 2009 so EMS personnel can plan out their continuing education ahead of time. If you are interested in online EMS continuing education, contact MCC’s continuing education department at 910-576-6222, extension 508.