Haleigh and I have been plugging away on converting our awesome manual to an online curriculum. The Newborn Care Training Academy’s goal is to create a new standard for online learning available to students who wish to become a Newborn Care Specialist. With that in mind, we’ve created a program that will meet the needs of audio, visual, and tactile learners by combining power points with audio and video demonstrations. The online curriculum is set up much like you would see at a college or university with assignments, quizzes, and a final exam. We have chosen to use Moodle, a platform that many higher learning institutions also use. Students will be able to take courses in the comfort of their own home, Starbucks, or even on breaks during their job or school.

The curriculum is broken down into 9 courses: Newborn Care Specialist Profession, Full Term Newborns, Preemie Care, Managing Multiples, Feeding and Nutrition, Breast Feeding, Sleep and Sleep Training, Issues and Ailments, and The Post Partum Mother. Each of the courses covers in depth information as well as practical tips and general information. Each course has a power point lesson, relevant worksheets, discussion boards, a quiz, and after completion of all 9 courses, students will take a final exam.

The online curriculum will be available on any internet connection, and worksheets can be downloaded and completed anywhere with a computer. The power point lessons will be available for use on the computer or tablet devices, and worksheets will need to be done on a computer. Our hope is that students would be able to access the material wherever they are.

After successfully establishing in-person courses, we decided that it was time to create an online course that students all over the nation could access. We’ve been envisioning online courses since day one and we are so excited to be working on them. Our goal is that students would learn just as much as if they were attending an in-person course, and not lose any quality in the transition to an online curriculum.