By Aidan Bearden / Staff Writer 

Missouri Valley University’s new sonography program has been temporarily shifted to be nearly fully online due to the Director of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Katherine Flores, being out of state. This fall is the first semester MVU has offered the program, as it was announced in June. This new program comes after MVU has been strengthening the School of Nursing and Health Sciences department of the university. 

The sonography program was originally set to have more of an in-person setting, but due to a lack of faculty and staff registered to teach the program, it was shifted to a mostly online format. The newness of the program led to the program not being fully prepared for the beginning of the semester, causing the delayed start. According to students, the program was originally supposed to have labs twice a week. The program has shifted to have two lab sessions during the semester that are projected to be six or more hours long. The recentness has also left Flores alone to teach the program. Flores defended the hybrid format of the program by stating that she herself took a hybrid-style sonography program.

 “I attended a hybrid program–that is how I know it can be done and done well,” Flores said.

Classes began on Sept. 21, the fifth week into the fall semester. Flores stated that the delay was necessary as the program was not fully prepared at the start of the semester.

 “What good would it be starting in August if parts of the program weren’t set up?” Flores said.

 A sonography student who would prefer to be anonymous said that this first week of classes has been overwhelming and the bulkiest workload of their academic career. They also criticized the predominantly online functions of the program, believing that the program is most fit to be in person due to the hands-on nature of sonography. 

“I think that if it were in-person, I would be able to actually learn how to use the machine and actually perform ultrasounds,” said the student. “How am I supposed to learn how to do it online?” 

The student said that they are more of a hands-on learner. Flores said she believes there is validity in the student’s criticism of the program. However, she argued that the online function of the class is something that students should have considered before agreeing to the course. 

“They knew this was a new program and there was already a change in Directors before it started,” said Flores. “I have given them the option to drop the program if they are unhappy with it and the way it is set up.” 

Although Flores recognized that this program is challenging, she has confidence in the success of her five students registered for the program. 

“I am confident in the future of the sonography program at MVU,” said Flores. “I know all five [students] will be amazing sonographers one day, and they are a part of Valley history with this being a new program.”