GRANT RECIPIENTS:

Susan Myers, Dietetic Technology, Wolfson Campus
smyers@mdc.edu

Presently there are four community colleges in Florida and sixty-three in the rest of the United States with AS program for Dietetic Technicians. Students graduating from these programs are eligible to take the American Dietetic Association National Registration Examination. Passage of this examination entitles a student to be a Dietetic Technician Registered (DTR), a designation recognized as a dietetic professional by state and federal agencies. Nursing homes in which the majority of our students work require registration.
The purpose of this grant was to develop an on-line interactive testing tool using WebCt for students graduating from the Dietetic Technology Program to use as a study guide for the American Dietetic Association National Registration examination. This examination covers five domains: Food and Nutrition, Nutrition Services: Community/Clinical, Education, Foodservice Systems and Management. The grant covered the Diet Therapy area of the Nutrition Services: Community/Clinical domain.
Initially the grant was executed using the existing WebCt on-line testing capability i.e. creating a question database and formulating quizzes from that database. It was possible to have feedback from the quizzes developed but the entire process was labor intensive and time consuming. Other setbacks were that it was found that the database could not be downloaded into any other system nor could self-test questions developed within WebCt be used to formulate quizzes.
During the Spring of 2003 the grantee attended a two-day Respondus workshop at the Medical Campus. This software program enabled the grantee to write test questions for the WebCt database in Word as a text file and then import the questions into a Respondus file. This Respondus file in term could then be directly imported into WebCt either as a database or database and quiz simultaneously. Of major significance was the amount of time that could be saved by using Respondus. Initially it took about 2-3 hours to write ten to 15 questions directly into the WebCt database excluding written feedback to test questions. Using Respondus significantly decreased the amount of time needed to actually type the questions, add written feedback and reference the feedback. The feedback is essential in that it explains the reason why a particular answer was correct to decrease the tendency of students to try to memorize a test questions instead of the concept. In general the rationale for the other answers being wrong was also added. The references were given so that students needing additional information/study on a particular question/topic would have a resource to review on their own.
The test questions used were developed based on the existing textbook used for DIE 2211 Diet Therapy, Essentials of Nutrition and Diet Therapy by Sue Rodwell Williams. The references were also based on the textbook.
Information on evaluation will come with the completion of the registration examination by the existing graduating class and subsequent graduates. Informal data is very favorable in that the students appreciate the ease of accessing the quizzes (questions developed via the WebCt database) and the feedback and references provided.

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Project results include the test questions, feedback and resources for Diet Therapy covering the following areas:
Diabetes Mellitus
Gastro-intestinal
Drug-Nutrient Interactions
Coronary Disease
Renal Disease
Liver Disease
Diseases of the Oral Cavity, Esophagus, Stomach, Small and Large Intestine
Gallbladder and Pancreas
Nutritional Assessment
Laboratory Testing
Enteral Nutrition
attached test questions from the “Database” file were generated as a text file in Word, imported into Respondus and exported to WebCt.
Files “Drug Nutrients” and “Nutritional Assessment” were generated in Respondus and imported into the WebCt database and shown as a quiz.
The file “MC Question” is an example of the format used when developing a database questions directly into WebCt.
The final database generated was converted into quizzes and self tests on-line. The quizzes can be controlled by student access and or time limits. The self-tests are available to students at their own pace. Both can only be accessed only through the WebCt course.