Long-distance learning

Nursing program teaches on line Cathy Caton has been a student at the University since last September. But she has never set foot on campus. Caton, who lives in Swissvale, Pa., is part of the Nurse Midwifery Distance Learning Program at the School of Nursing. One of four enrolled students, Caton will receive her master's degree in Nurse-Midwifery upon completion of the program. Every Tuesday she attends "class" at a teleconferencing center in Pittsburgh. The 16-month graduate program was created to increase the number of nurse-midwives in under-served rural areas of Pennsylvania, according to the program's director, Sister Teresita Hinnegan. The program, which started in September of 1994, received its initial funding from the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health of the Pennsylvania Health Department, according to Hinnegan. "It's the only program of its kind in the country where multi-media and interactive audiovisual technology are used," she said. Caton said she heard about the program through the director of midwifery at the hospital where she worked -- and became immediately interested. "I couldn't afford to relocate and leave my home and my family to go to graduate school," Caton said. "I also wanted to stay in my community. "There are two distance learning schools in the country that have this program, one in Kentucky and Penn," Caton added. "The one in Kentucky didn't have the teleconferencing technology, so it was not going to be like interacting in a real classroom." The class makes use of two-way teleconferencing, which gives every student the ability to see and hear everyone else -- whether they are in Hershey, Scranton, Pittsburgh or the Nursing Education building. "At times, technology can be frustrating," Caton said. "Occasionally, I miss a couple of minutes of the lecture because of technical problems. It takes some getting used to to communicate in this way." Clinical Specialist Vivian Lowenstein, a lecturer in the program, said that standard teaching methods have to change once the technology is introduced into the classroom. "I have to think about how my teaching method is going to come across on television and I have to be more aware of what's going on," Lowenstein said. With the help of technology, participants attend lectures by professors and guest speakers, interact with classmates and see the visual aids the professor uses during lectures. Apparently, the distance does not affect the unity of the class. During class breaks, students occasionally spend time talking to students in other locations, Lowenstein said. "The [students in other locations] are very much a part of this group," she added. "It's very natural for them to be 'in class' with us." All students are required to have computers, electronic mail accounts, access to the Internet and file transfer capabilities in order to transmit papers, assignments and messages. "They have everything at their fingertips that students on campus would have," Hinnegan explained. "The expectations for them are the same as for the campus-based students." Caton said she does not mind the fact that she had to buy a computer to participate in the program. "I think that this is really important, what Penn is doing," she said. "All of the people in the distance-learning program would not have been able to do this at this time in their lives if it weren't for the program." And teleconferencing is only a part of this program. Students are required to interact with nurse-midwives and nurse-practitioners in their community. Caton works 16 hours a week with a full-time midwife in a community clinic.