July 18, 2023
Delta College was awarded the 2022-2023 Innovation of the Year award from the League for Innovation in the Community College, a nonprofit organization
with the mission of cultivating transformational innovation across colleges.
The college received recognition for Web-Based Audiovisual Platform for the Health Profession for its healthcare simulated labs for physical therapy, dental and nursing that include:
- Patient cameras and microphones with optical/digital zoom for oral view and patient-student interaction in the dental clinic.
- X-ray/sterilization areas and lecture classrooms.
- Physical Therapist Assistant area instructor and student stations with cameras and microphones.
- Enhanced audio/video recording capability in the health professions labs/simulation rooms, control room and testing rooms.
The instrumental innovators are Jim Czyweksi, director of user services; Chris Hausbeck,
associate professor of physical therapy; Lori Kloc, healthcare simulation educator;
Pamela Livingston, assistant professor of dental hygiene; Greg Luczak, assistant director
of business services; and Mitch Ziehmer, support technician of information technology.
Hausbeck expressed his hopes that the award will inspire other educators to “consider
adopting a similar approach” and how these resources will help students develop the
skills to become excellent clinicians.
“I am beyond excited to have this new technology in my classroom. In physical therapy,
it’s essential to have great observation skills. We will use the system to record
students performing interventions and then have them watch and reflect on their performance,”
Hausbeck said.
Using web-based audiovisuals during the coronavirus pandemic as a precaution is now
embraced as an enhanced approach to educating students.
“It sets the college apart from all other colleges because Delta saw the importance
of incorporating technology into new learning methods,” Kloc said. “It started as
a safety measure, but now we can see many interesting and innovative ways students
can self-evaluate and reduce their performance anxiety. The possibilities of how we
will be able to use this technology are endless.”
By Ashley Terrell, Writer