Occupational Therapy Program Takes the Leap Into Hybrid Learning
While the terms “blended learning” or “hybrid learning” may be unfamiliar to many, the practice itself is fast becoming the norm in higher education. The goals of blended learning are to enable students to become active and engaged learners who develop the skills and knowledge necessary for self-enrichment, their vocations, and their participation in communities in which they live and work. These goals are achieved by creating a hybrid learning environment that integrates educational technologies, face-to-face interaction, and a range of learner-centered activities and assignments.
Many instructors make a gradual shift to blended learning when they begin to use course management software such as WebVista or Moodle and move some of their course materials, activities, and assignments online, creating new iterations as they continue to offer the courses. But Assistant Professor Patricia Schaber and her colleagues in the Program in Occupational Therapy, with the support of Janet Shanedling and the instructional design team from the Academic Health Center Office of Education, are making a more dramatic leap into blended learning. Just over a year ago, educational technologies were not an integral part of the program’s curriculum; some instructors used technology in select courses. All that is about to change as Schaber and her colleagues transform the entire curriculum into a hybrid format that will launch in fall 2007. And because of this transformation, occupational therapy faculty members will not be only adopters of technology, but leaders in their field. While there are distance learning post-professional master’s programs, theirs will be the first entry-level hybrid master’s degree program in the country.
Schaber and her colleagues have undertaken this tremendous task because they recognize the benefits for their students and for the communities in which they live and work. As Schaber explains, there is a shortage of occupational therapists in greater Minnesota. Studies show that occupational therapists tend to establish their practices near the places they receive their educations. The flexibility of a hybrid format enables much course activity to take place at a distance and be combined with periodic face-to-face meetings at program centers such as the ones presently being established in Minneapolis and Rochester. Students will not have to move to a different place to pursue their professional goals, and their communities will benefit from their new expertise as they establish their practices where they live.
The shift to hybrid learning also accommodates the realities of the profession and a shift to a new model of practice and teaching. Occupational therapists help people of all ages overcome the effects of physical, mental, emotional, or cognitive limitations to develop “skills for the job of living.” Over the past twenty years or so, the profession has shifted from an individualistic, institution-centered medical model of practice to a community-based, public health model. For example, occupational therapy for a child with autism previously may have entailed clinic appointments a couple of times a week with an emphasis on patient-therapist interaction. A community-based model takes the occupational therapist out of the clinic and into the child’s natural environment, involving family and other members of the community in home and school settings. In the early stages of their education students will benefit from a hybrid curriculum as more of the course work will be distance delivered and they can acquire foundational knowledge at home. More advanced students will benefit from increased face-to-face learning with practical application of the content mastered through instructional technologies.
While the hybrid format offers many advantages for students, it does present some challenges for instructors as they think about ways to adapt to a new teaching environment. Practicing a community-intensive profession requires development of social and professional skills in addition to therapeutic expertise, and instructors have relied on face-to-face interactions to establish trust and model professional behavior. Says Schaber, “Our academic program is 60 years old and has always emphasized the development of a professional identity. But that piece had not been explicit until we took away a predictable environment with a predictable format.” Therefore, the curriculum development process will focus in particular on communication technologies such as UMConnect and threaded discussion, and on teaching strategies that will emphasize the cultivation of a professional community. And examining previously tacit assumptions about the role of modeling and teacher presence may lead to even more effective approaches to teaching.
Related Resources
- Patricia Schaber was awarded a 2006–07 DMC faculty fellowship. Learn more about the DMC Faculty Fellowship Program.
