shannon kirkland, mba danielle askins, ba west texas ahec program

Shannon Kirkland, MBA

Danielle Askins, BAWest Texas AHEC Program

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Building a Web-based Infrastructure

Overview

• Texas H.O.T. Jobs history

• Website tour and infrastructure

• Resources for educators

• Sustainability and future

• Getting started on your own


H.O.T. Jobs history

• Started by the Texas AHEC network in 1997 as a printed book• Designed to prepare students for entry into the healthcare field • Historically updated every 3 years• First HOT Jobs website was contributed by the HSTE partner in early 2005 as part of 2nd edition—a pdf version of the book with some lesson plan materials• 3rd edition website launched in early 2006, much more graphically oriented and some basic interactive features

Research implications


Research Findings Website Modifications

Social network important Developed parent section

Talking to healthcare professionals important

Developed “Professionals in Field”

Mixed impact talking to teachers / counselors

Developed educator section

Website impt, but need multimedia components

Website rich in graphics & interactive formats

Design considerations

• Complex database architecture “behind the scenes” to drive huge volumes of data• Strategic use of photos, colors, Flash and video components to reinforce messaging for target audiences• Interactivity• Highlighting real life experiences of others


What it took

• 651 pages of internal content

• 7 multi-table databases

• 145 Flash components

• 65+ videos

• 470 links to external content

• More than 2,000 communications with high school administrators for research participation


Preview of website

• Career Seeker Section

• Parent Section

• Educator Section


Website Tour

• www.texashotjobs.org


http://www.texashotjobs.org/

Career Seekers section

• All of the career seeker information available in Spanish • New: Professionals in the Field• Expanded: Personal career manager profile

- Career Comparison Grid- Professionals in the field highlights based on top career choices- RSS news feed for healthcare news

- Checklists


Career profile

• Creates opportunity for targeted content and communication based on user’s inputs on region, demographics, and career interest

• Expandable content delivery area

• Potential for peer-to-peer communication


Career Seeker section

• Redesigned career roadmaps, tying in Achieve Texas programs of study

• Colleges and universities search• Functionality for resource sharing with peers

(Bookmark feature connecting to Facebook, Twitter, etc.)



• Interactive career exploration modules – Identification of diseases affecting minorities– Preparation of scripts for each module– Healthcare professional representation– Diversity of healthcare settings– Math, science and vocabulary skill building– Health risk factors and behaviors – Communication skills– Access to Professionals in the Field and roadmaps



• Interactive career exploration modules• 15 modules• 62 individual healthcare scenes• 39 different healthcare careers represented• 40 health care professionals as actors /

actresses• Diverse population of patients and healthcare

professionals• Each scene ranges from 1 – 5 minutes in length• ~ 10-12 math and science questions developed

for each module (based on 3 levels of difficulty), which are mapped to high school assessment competencies

Educators’ section

• Completely NEW!!!• Lesson plans that supplement the online Career Exploration Modules

- Identify TAKS and College Readiness standards

• RSS news feeds for healthcare news• Direct access to the Career Roadmaps, which link to the AchieveTexas pathways and POS• Blog for sharing best practices• Archive of all previous educator materials


Lesson plans

• Development team– Lead: Lori Milner, PhD (DFW AHEC)

– Jan Ritter, M.Ed. (Piney Woods AHEC)

– Jody Sanders, BA, teaching certificate (Pecan Valley AHEC)

• Process– Reviewed module scripts– Developed classroom-formatted activities

to complement modules– Conducted evaluation process with six

educators

Lesson plan validation

• Each reviewer evaluated on a rubric scale 1-5– Appropriateness for high school– Relevance to the module topic– Instructions are clear– Content is correct/valid

• Modifications made based on these evaluations


Educators’ section

• References page for resources related to health careers development• Announcements area for YouTube contest for classes, summer camp opportunities, etc.



Parents and Families section

• Parents and extended family play a huge role in the success of their child

- Influencing career choice- Preparing for and accessing education after high school

• Provides a tool for parents to assist their child who is interested in pursuing a health career

- Why choose a career in health care fields?- Discuss myths about healthcare careers- Interactive Career Interest Survey - Breakdown of salary potential by education level - Financial aid information

• Available in Spanish

Database infrastructure• Main Career Database

– Salary ticker (flash)– Salary range, annual & hourly– Heartbeat area (flash)– Job Outlook– Professional in the field link– Length of training– Career Explorer module link– My Career Profile

Database infrastructure• Universities

– Name of college– URL– Location– Degree programs available– Zip code to GPS coordinates

• University zone– AHEC region and center

Database infrastructure• Module database

– Math & Science – Vocabulary– Information links– Titles descriptions

• Also connections to role model database and main career database

Utilization

• In 2007, the site averaged 5,000 visitors/month

• In 2010, the site averaged 22,000 visitors/month

• 924 number of registered profile career seekers to date (23.7% Hispanic, 17.4% African American, 23% unreported)


Utilization

• Ranks #2 on Google and Bing for “health careers in Texas.”

• About #1: www.texashealthcareers.org• Top search terms that direct people to this site

are various forms of – hot jobs

– hot jobs in Texas

– Texas jobs

– cool jobs in Texas

You don’t see health care mentioned….• 4 of the top 50 search terms are in Spanish

Visibility and searches

http://www.texashealthcareers.org/

Not in a vacuum

• How we promote it– Statewide AHEC health careers

promotion efforts– HOT Jobs print tools– Use in high school HSE courses– PSAs developed for local use by

partners


Next steps: website

• Website monitoring and revisions• Targeted use of Twitter and Facebook• Continue to expand role model pool• Research and add new careers: certified

tumor registrar, nursing informatics, new health information technology opportunities

• “This College Life” pilot test


Next steps: sustainability

• Advertising– Opportunity for organizations that are

mission-aligned to participate

• Assisting other states with development


Getting started

• From scratch or a revamp– Look at other sites, both career and pop

culture, to identify strengths• Graphic appeal• Navigation

– Review your data• In what format does your information exist? • Do you have the resources to streamline it

for efficiencies in future editions?

Getting started

• Development Process– Establish work group– Assess need– Determine the scope of the project– Develop project timeline– Generate funding– Research and develop product– Distribute

Getting started

• Needs assessment– Surveys/focus groups with primary

audiences

• Scope– Prioritize important features– Look at the budget

• Work with a web programmer to identify the best options to accomplish as many of your priorities as possible

– Consider “staging” project

Getting started

• Timeline– Realistic– With Web development, expect that it

takes longer than you expect

• R&D– Goes back to needs assessment and

priorities– Content. Content. Content.– Messages delivered in more than one

way

• Distribute– How do you drive traffic to your

Web site?• Supporting mechanisms: hard copy

books or business cards distributed at events

• PSAs• Links to your from other key Web sites• Where does it rank in the search

engines and how to improve?

Getting started

Getting started

• Explore interactive options– Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

These can be added to your site pretty inexpensively. Considerations:

• Someone to keep the stream of information current

• Addressing concerns related to appropriateness of content and user interactions

Partners and contributors

• TTUHSC School of Pharmacy• TTUHSC F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and

Community Health, West Texas AHEC Program

• TTU College of Mass Communications• AHEC of the Plains• East Texas AHEC Program (UTMB)

– DFW AHEC (UT Southwestern), Piney Woods AHEC (Stephen F. Austin University), and Pecan Valley AHEC (Victoria College)


Vendors

• Web Development: Visual Reality Production, Inc.

• Photos and Graphic Concept: Hartsfield Design• Messaging Strategies: CommuniCard, LLC• Spanish Translation: Teneo Linguistics• Video Development: Studio 84


Wrapping up

Questions and comments?


Contact us

Shannon KirklandTTUHSC F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health

[email protected] p. 806.743.1338

Danielle AskinsAHEC of the Plains

[email protected] p. 806.291.0101

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

shannon kirkland, mba danielle askins, ba west texas ahec program

Documents

healthcare field

texas ahec network

field highlights

career choices rss news

field mixed impact

hot jobs website

edition website

jobs historywebsite