The Institute is a post secondary, diploma granting institution which was founded in 1958 as the Toronto Institute for Medical Technology. Their mission is to address the educational requirements for health science professionals and the continuing education of practitioners by the development and delivery of the best educational programs, products and services in Health Sciences. Four hundred part time instructors contribute to diploma and post-degree programs.
The Canadian Society of Medical Laboratory Technologists has a membership of 23,000 individuals employed in the Health care industry. Ontario members number 9,970, of which 81% are female. The group has traditionally received their education in community college-based programs or in specialized post-secondary institutions, such as the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences. The Michener Institute has been proactive in addressing the educational needs of this community. Restructuring of the health care system, and recent technological advances in clinical diagnostics, have threatened the employability of this group. The difficulties in seeking new employment opportunities are compounded by a rather narrow educational focus.
Medical lab technologists are employed in health care facilities across Ontario. Continuing education programmes must address their educational needs in the context of distance learning and temporal flexibility. Potential educators in the industrial setting are also temporally constrained.
In co-operation with EvNet researchers at McMaster University (Dr. Delsworth Harnish) [Project 3 (c) ], SoftArc (see below), and several biological/biotechnological companies (see above), the Michener Institute will utilize existing technology to develop and deliver a computer- aided instructional course(s) which provide for collaborative learning and distance education (retraining). The program will have the following components. (1) The Michener Institute will mount the programme as part of their existing part-time studies correspondence courses. (2) Enrollees will communicate and access resources/knowledge bases through McMaster's LearnLink. The computer program environment provides for collaborative discussion, graphical interfaces and real-time chat groups. Course material will be supplemented with computer programmes that have been designed to encourage problem solving in specific biotechnological areas. (3) The content of the programme will address the perceived need for skills upgrade in the context of general basic knowledge in biotechnology and problem solving. (4) Participants in instruction/learning will include faculty members from McMaster University's biotechnology programmes, faculty of Michener Institute, and Research Scientists employed in the industrial sector. (5) Formative evaluation will be used to assess learning/training effectiveness by this technology. The success of the programme will be measured in the longer term by successful lateral shifts in the employment opportunities of medical laboratory technologists.
In support of this research and training, the Michener Institute will commit to EvNet $10,000 in teaching resource material, $14,000 in support of the salary of LearnLink's system manager, $6,000 in support of the salaries of administration staff, and $2,000 to support project related travel.
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