First students graduate with master’s in teaching/technology

UNMC recently graduated its first class of students to earn a Master of Health Professions Teaching and Technology degree, offered by the College of Allied Health Professions.

Classes integrating methods of teaching with emerging technology were first offered in fall 2015, and the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the establishment of a master’s degree program the following year.

The online or distance-learning aspect of the program made it “very doable” for the established professionals who took the classes.

“Remember,” graduate Stephanie Lough said, “I’m working full time.”

Lough is a former UNMC faculty member now on the operations side at Nebraska Medicine. She said the coursework – designed to improve students’ interprofessional instruction and innovative teaching methods in both academic and non-academic settings — was just what she was looking for.

“I was able to take a lot of the tenets of the program and apply it to employees — it’s a way to teach employees continuing education at a reasonable cost,” she said.

Jessica Snowden, M.D., a former longtime UNMC faculty member, who completed the program through distance learning since moving to Arkansas, also gave the HPTT curriculum high marks.

“What surprised me most was how easy it could be to incorporate a new educational approach into what we do,” she said.

“Small changes can have a big impact.”

Walker Thomas, instructor in anesthesiology, said the program was recommended by his department chair, Steven Lisco, M.D.

“I was able to apply things that I learned almost immediately,” Thomas said.

Lorena Baccaglini, D.D.S., Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology in the College of Public Health, completed the HPTT certificate program, rather than the master’s degree. She appreciated the scientific approach to learning to teach, rather than relying on trial and error.

For a list of course offerings, please click here.