SHSS Launches Family Therapy Programs in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando

The Department of Family Therapy at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences has successfully launched its cluster program at the NSU Educational Centers in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando. The cohort format provides students with the opportunity to go through their two-year degree program as a group. Instruction is provided by on-site professors and through Web-based, CD, and compressed video learning opportunities. A live instructor alternates his or her visits between the three cluster groups. The clusters that do not have the live instructor use the compressed video teaching system.

The compressed video teaching system has proved to be successful. Professors can write notes on a smart board that transmits the information to the students at each educational center. Students can even interact with the professor and ask questions through microphones that have been installed in each compressed video classroom.

A compressed video system has recently been installed in a classroom at SHSS. Faculty members and special presenters are now able to make contact with the students at the cluster program locations from Fort Lauderdale. This innovative format opens doors for many students who want to earn a graduate degree, yet are unable to attend class on the Fort Lauderdale campus.

(Photo) Tommie Boyd, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Family Therapy, sits next to the compressed video teaching equipment she uses for the cluster program