For several years, the Duke-UNC TTS leadership team has been discussing ways to make TTS education more accessible, but we were hesitant to move our highly interactive and skills based training online. How would it feel to be a talking head on a computer screen, trying to teach other talking heads on other computer screens skills that are skills based and hands on? How could we really connect with our participants--and how could our participants really connect to one another--without being in the same room?
Although we didn't choose it, the COVID-19 global pandemic offered--required, actually--that we move our TTS training to a virtual platform. We spent the spring of 2020 re-imagining our program and figuring out how to maintain the dynamic energy of our in-person events. Three virtual trainings (in the summer and fall of 2020) and one year later, we are truly excited about our successes and what we have accomplished with our virtual program.
The blended format that our team developed—a combination of online, asynchronous video modules and virtual, synchronous sessions with our course faculty—has helped us maintain those features while actually improving our course. Our virtual format has also increased access to this course – not only for NC practitioners but for practitioners across the U.S. and internationally.
This week at the annual conference of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), we are presenting a poster detailing outcomes of our 2020 virtual trainings compared with 2019 in-person trainings, and we're excited to share the poster with you (below).
Visit our website at www.dukeunctts.com to learn more about or register for our virtual TTS training programs!
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