INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course, "Fundamentals of Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Providing Care to Children with Special Needs and Their Families", was developed through a collaborative interdisciplinary team process. The team was composed of faculty from ten different disciplines, all from the University of Miami, Mailman Center for Child Development (MCCD)

This course is based on interdisciplinary competencies designed to enhance trainees' diagnostic and evaluation skills and their understanding of current philosophical approaches when working with children with special health care needs and disabilities.

The Instructional Team (see the Staff Information in the online course) consists of MCCD faculty members and physicians within the School of Medicine, an individual with a disability who serves as a consultant to the team, and a parent of a child with a disability. The course uses a case-based curriculum to introduce diagnostic and evaluation strategies from ten different disciplines.
The case scenario builds discipline specific diagnostic skills as well as an understanding of the Interdisciplinary team process. For each case, trainees watch video segments that demonstrate parts of the evaluation process such as the team decision making in preparing for an evaluation, discussion of discipline's preliminary findings, summarizing finds, and delivering diagnostic news to the family.

Each case is embedded within one of the core curriculum threads that are critical in defining best practices for the fields of maternal child health and disability. These core curriculum threads or Topical Sessions are: Interdisciplinary Teaming, Family-Centered Care, Cultural Competency, and Self Determination.

The course consists of text, audio, images, and multimedia. It is divided into 4 sessions, each consisting of didactic instruction, illustrations, assignments, discussion questions, and case studies. The four Topical Sessions may be completed in any order. Videos and CDs are made available at the time of registration. Each CD is labeled, indicating which sessions can be viewed on that CD. The appropriate CD should be inserted into the CD drive prior to opening each session. When a video is present within the presentation, a chime, click, or other sound will be heard followed by a video icon/button and words, such as: "Click on button" The icon/button must be clicked to view the video within the context of the course session. Additional learning experiences are offered through internal and external web links, which are included throughout this course. By clicking on web links, the links can be directly accessed. Links will change color after they have been viewed.

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PREREQUISITES FOR TAKING ONLINE COURSE:

Skill Requirements

• The ability to manipulate a mouse or other computer access device.

• The ability to edit documents using the cut, copy, and paste commands.

• The ability to create and name documents and folders. · The ability to save a document within a folder.

Technical Requirements

• Access to a computer (preferably a PC) with a CD drive.

• Access to the Internet.

• A web browser that is as recent as possible. The browser must support both Java Script and Java. Internet Explorer at least higher than version 4.0 is preferable. (To check what version of Internet Explorer you have, click on the word "Help" at the top of your browser and select, "About Internet Explorer". If you need to get a newer version, it can be downloaded by following these instructions:
  

  1. The most current version of Internet Explorer is I.E. 6.0. You can download your free copy of I.E. at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/  
     
     

  2. To download, click on the "download now" banner in the middle of the page (click on it anywhere). In most cases, the download page will recommend the version you should install. Simply click the "next" button and run the program from its current location (Windows) or download it onto your hard drive (Mac). If the page does not recommend a browser, just select the Internet Explorer version for your specific platform from the list.
     
     

  3. Follow the screens and select "run this program from its current location when asked". It will then download the "setup file". In the first setup dialog box, select which package of Internet Explorer Components you want to download. Then it will proceed to download the "program file" for Internet Explorer. Afterwards, follow the dialog boxes until installation is complete. If you are using a slow modem connection, the whole download process may take a significant amount of time, possibly up to 2 hours.
     
     

  4. Make sure you are running your new browser. If you don't notice any changes or new features in your browser, you may be still running a previous version of the browser left on your computer. Internet Explorer should put a new icon on your desktop. Double click on this icon to surf the web.
     
     

• Microsoft Office so that Word, PowerPoint and Excel is available. (Viewers for these can be downloaded by going to the MY BLACKBOARD home page, clicking on "Campus Center", then clicking on "Student Support Site", then clicking on "External Links", and following directions for the downloading the viewer that is needed.)

• An email account.

For more information or if you have any questions, please contact:
Michelle Schladant
E-mail: mschladant@med.miami.edu
Phone:  305-243-4466

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