It is important that you carefully read all of the information about the orientation to the course so that you are prepared for participating in the on-line experience. After reading this page, e-mail Tana Brown, the course coordinator, at tbrown@kumc.edu to let her know that you have read the orientation. In your message state that either you 1) understand all the material in the orientation or 2) have questions. If you have questions you can then ask them in the e-mail.
The course, Interdisciplinary Wellness Promotion for People with Psychiatric Disabilities, is divided into an introduction, four modules and a final project. The introduction (Week 1) will provide an opportunity for students and faculty to meet one another and start to consider and assess their own level of wellness. The topics of the modules in order are: 1) Rethinking Psychiatric Disabilities (Weeks 2 – 5), 2) Health Risk in Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities (Weeks 6 – 8), 3) Models of Health Promotion (Weeks 9 – 12), and 4) Program Development (Weeks 13 – 15). The last week of the course will be focused on completing the final project.
There are eight faculty members who will be teaching the course (go to the faculty page to learn more about them). The faculty come from three different institutions (University of Kansas Medical Center, University of Missouri – Kansas City, and Wyandot Center for Community Behavioral Health Care) and represent six different disciplines (dental hygiene, psychology, consumer providers, occupational therapy, dietetics and nutrition, and nursing).
Each module or section of the course will be led by 2 – 3 designated faculty. Those faculty will be involved in the on-line discussions and will be responsible for grading the assignments associated with that module. If you have specific questions about a module, you should ask the faculty involved in that section of the course. The coordinating faculty is Tana Brown. If you have general questions about the course you should direct them to Tana.
Some assignments will be done individually and some will be done in small groups. The students in the course will be divided into small groups that include a mixture of disciplines. You will work in the same small groups for all of the group assignments. Your small group will be assigned just during module 1. The module faculty will monitor the activities and grade the assignments for each small group. These faculty will help ensure that a consumer directed, recovery oriented perspective is central to the learning experience. Students will rotate the responsibility for group leadership. You will be notified as to when you will be the group leader at the same time that you receive group assignments. When you are the group leader, it is your responsibility to facilitate the on-line discussion and post the group assignments.
Working in a small group in an on-line course may be a new experience for many of you. To communicate with your group, you will log on to the discussion board and post your comments. It is important that everyone contributes to the assignments, therefore it is expected that each group member logs on to the discussion board at least two times while a small group is working on a particular assignment. Everyone in the group receives the same grade on the assignment. However, at the end of the course everyone will receive a small group “participation” grade that is worth 100 points. Everyone in your group will determine how many points you should receive for your small group participation.
Go to the peer evaluation to see how the points will be assigned.
All individual assignments are due at 8am on Monday. Group summaries are due at 8am on Thursdays. Many assignments include an on-line discussion. If it is a small group assignment that involves on-line posting and a summary to be posted by the group leader, the group members are expected to complete discussion and their portion of the assignment by Monday morning at 8am so that the group leader has time to compile the postings into a summary and post the summary by Thursday morning.
When posting to the discussion it is best to type your answers in a word processing program such as Word or Word Perfect. Then copy the answer from the word processing program and paste it in the discussion. Review copy and paste commands.
From the home page of the course you can access the following pages:
1. Faculty – this provides a brief biographical sketch of each of the faculty members
2. Syllabus – this is the standard course syllabus and includes the objectives of the course and the grading criteria.
3. Modules – this is where you access the learning materials. Each module is divided into weekly readings and assignments.
4. Discussion – this is where you enter to participate in an on-line discussion. There will be separate places for small group discussions and for postings with the whole class. The Discussion also includes a News section – this is where you will find announcements.
5. Help – this is where you can go for help with the on-line format of the course.
If you’re having problems with any aspect of the course (e.g. can’t access something, don’t understand an assignment, are having problems with your small group), please contact the appropriate person as soon as possible. Remember that the module faculty will answer questions related to the content of the module, and that Tana Brown will answer general questions about the course. Call the Help Desk for all technical problems 913-588-7995.
Information about course evaluations
The faculty that developed Interdisciplinary Wellness for People with Psychiatric Disabilities are very excited about the course. We are hopeful that you will find it to be interesting, enlightening and useful for your practice.