Attendance and Participation

Dr. Steven Tulkin, Program Director

Attendance and Participation

Classes are held on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays, 9am-4pm Pacific Time) and meet approximately every third weekend for 28 months. We encourage students to attend all classes, but we realize that over a 28-month period students may need to miss some classes. We make DVDs of each class for students who cannot attend.

Students in our previous cohorts have reported that they spent between 4-8 hours per week studying the course materials and preparing for the exam given during the first hour of each class. This depends somewhat on students' previous coursework and experience. However, we also have a small number of students who feel they “need to master all of the material” presented who report that they can spend 12 hours per week studying. Also, some instructors prepare study guides to help students prepare for the exams, but preparation of study guides is not a required part of the faculty contract.

Locations

Students attend classes either in small groups at classroom sites or individually by calling in to the conference call line. The program’s unique teaching methodology allows students from multiple locations to come together to form one large cohort.

Most students attend classes in small groups at classroom sites linked to the videoconferencing system. Classroom sites for each cohort of the program are established based on enrollment numbers in specific geographic regions. Current classroom locations include Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the six Alliant campuses in California.

Classroom sites in other states, such as Idaho, Maryland, Oregon and Utah, have also been established for previous cohorts of the program. New sites can be established for groups of interested individuals pending programmatic considerations and any necessary individual state authorization.

Additionally, students living more than 100 miles from a classroom site may attend classes from their home or office using an audio conference call line.

Continuing Education Credit: Attendance Requirements

Most of our classes are eligible for APA continuing education credit. For any class that is one or two weekends, students must attend the entire class to receive CE credit. For classes lasting more than two weekends, students are allowed to miss up to 20% of the total class hours and still get CE credit, provided they notify us in writing that they have viewed the DVD and fulfilled other requirements for accrual of CE credit.

Audio Conference Call Plan

Students living more than 100 miles from a classroom site are allowed to attend classes from home or office using an audio conference call line. Handouts and lecture notes are sent electronically prior to the class. Students using the conference call line are considered in attendance if they are on the line for the full day of a class. The CE attendance requirement remains 80% attendance (via the conference call line). Under extenuating circumstances, students living within 100 miles of a classroom site can petition the Program Administration for permission to attend a small number of classes using the conference call line for a limited period of time. The Audio Conference Call Plan is not available for students who live in Louisiana.

Graduation Requirements

1. Completion of all coursework. Courses are graded on a Credit/No Credit system. An average grade of 70% is required for credit in each class. Students are permitted to remediate a limited number of examinations. Individuals who have taken academic courses in Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology, Neurochemistry or Clinical Biochemistry may apply to receive transfer credit for these courses by submitting the relevant transcript(s) and course description. There is a $200 transfer fee per course. Please see the program website for details.
2. Payment of all tuition and fees before graduation clearance.