How Dallas College mastered long-distance learning a long time ago

Years before COVID-19 forced the world to learn online, Dallas College figured out that virtual-learning success depended on long-distance lab lessons, which could be viewed and certified. Dr. Kelly Black, a veterinarian, oversees the vet tech program at Dallas College’s Cedar Valley campus. He’s been at the school since 2004. When he first started, Black said “most of the students were sending us VHS tapes of themselves. So we would get big packages with VHS tapes of them doing their skills.” The school’s long-distance students have always needed ways to show they’ve mastered necessary techniques, like drawing blood from a dog or cat. Black says technology has changed over time. “We graduated,” he says. “So we went into DVDs. Then we got the mini-DVDs, and then we had USB drives. And now we're to the point that our students can upload their videos of themselves into their learning management system.”

They just use smart phone videos. Students still need a certified technician or veterinarian on the other end to show them what they need to know. Valerie Garuccio is one of those teachers. Also called a preceptor, she works at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. She’s helped a number of long-distance students, including Dallas College enrollees, show their skills on video. “You know, what is the passing grade needed? And I'm going to say, ‘Well, that's a definite fail, we need to retake this video,’ or ‘Nope, that looks good. I think this would pass and maybe you can run it by your professor before submitting it,’” said Garuccio. Most students seeking vet tech certification, like Krystle Reed, already work in a veterinarian's office. Reed has spent ten years with her vet in the Woodlands, near Houston, and loves it. But she has bigger goals. With a child at home and her full full-time vet’s office job, online certification was the prescription she needed to meet those goals. “For the future, I would really like to work with the large animals like lions, tigers, zoo-type animals,” said Reed. “It opens up that, because they require you … to have a degree to do that.”