Speaker: Mary Puglisi
Mary Puglisi: Hi, my name is Mary. I'm a full-time student and I'm also a rehab tech, so I do have a job in healthcare, but I was looking for something that was more focused towards what I wanted to do in the future, which is to be a physician assistant. Um, so finding this course was really nice for me because I am a full-time student, I don't get summer breaks, I don't have a time where I could just like sit down and just do like in-person classes or something like that. So having this self-paced option was really good for me.
Describe your overall experience completing the ACT program. What stood out to you the most?
Mary Puglisi: My experience with this course was really positive, um, I really like the flexible aspect of it because I am a full-time student, but another part of it of this I liked was that it was really easy for me to adhere to like or absorb the knowledge because there were a lot of like really interactive portions and stuff like that. One that really stuck out to me was like the AI ones where you would talk to like AI patients in different scenarios, so that one specifically helped me learn a lot about being a medical assistant.
How did the interactive activities (like quizzes, infographics, and clinical challenges) impact your learning?
Mary Puglisi: I think the interactive portion made such a big difference on my learning. I mean, me specifically or me in particular, um, when I just like read stuff, I, I can absorb it for a period of time, but it kind of just goes in one ear and out the other. These interactive portions between the quizzes and talking to patients, documentation and things like that, all that stuff really helped me a lot because I was able to really test my knowledge and interact with the information. So I think this really made a big difference on my learning.
In what ways did ACT make you feel supported, even though the program was online?
Mary Puglisi: The ACT really helped me to feel supported, even though the program was online, because I knew that there was like a real instructor behind all of this, making sure that I would succeed. Her email responses were really quick and like if I wasn't meeting like the 30 minute mark on my lessons or something like that, she would email me and be like, do this again, and I like, honestly, I really did appreciate that because I feel like someone is actually paying attention to my education, even though there's like probably tons of people like taking this course and stuff like that, but The instructor, she's really responsive and um you could also kind of see like the other students doing stuff like there's a time where there was like a lot of discussion boards, and I could see like all the different students that were like also in the same same situation as me doing like the same kind of things, so I felt really supported, I didn't really feel alone while I was doing this, even though it was like self-paced and it was online and I was doing this like kind of in the comfort of wherever I was.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering enrolling in an ACT program?
Mary Puglisi: If you're thinking about enrolling in ACT, I would say to go for it. I mean, I wish that I started doing the coursework earlier or. I mean, like when I first like purchased it, I, I purchased it back in June and then I didn't start till September, and then I ended up finishing sometime in June while being able to like balance between my full-time schoolwork and also a part-time job, and then also this course, like I was able to do all of it in this span of time because it is open for a full year, but this definitely can be done in 8 weeks. If you have 8 weeks to dedicate to this course, you can definitely get it done, you get placed with a job. There's an externship process as well, which sets you up with real world opportunities. And this course, it sets you up to learn so much, even if you don't know a lot before going into this course. It gives you a lot of interactive opportunities to test your knowledge and also gives you a lot of um information about other things going on. I mean, um, other things you'll need when it comes to healthcare, like interaction with patients, patient ethics, and things like that. It's a really nice course to help get you ready and it's really nice and flexible, especially for someone who's a full-time student, part-time worker, anything like that. It's a really good course, I would say just do it, because the coursework, honestly, it really isn't that rigorous either, like, if you take the time to just sit down and really do it like you'll get it done.
