Michelle Yeo, Mark Lafave, Jeffery Owen
Based upon an evolving culture and recent changes to professional standards in Athletic Therapy (AT) in Canada, calling for implementation of competency-based curriculum by the year 2020 (Lafave et al., 2016), the AT faculty at our institution agreed to implement a clinical presentation (CP) approach to facilitate competency-based curriculum requirements (Dornan, Boshuizen, King, & Scherpbier, 2007). This innovation to pedagogy required a re-imagination of how teaching, learning and assessment is approached (Yeo et al., 2017). Our team is currently in the midst of a longitudinal study, focusing both on student learning as well as faculty development within this curriculum transformation.
We are in the third year of our mixed method study to understand the student experiences using CP logbooks and how it may impact their learning in AT. A second aspect of the study is faculty development and understanding within the curriculum transformation. Early results have already led to pedagogical and assessment changes. Since this is a longitudinal study, multiple cohorts are being studied.
Part of the new approach involves students tracking their own competence through a CP logbook and portfolio. Students record their interactions with specific clinical presentations over the entire program and reflect weekly on their learning. In the early phases of this implementation, instructors noticed students struggling with this reflective activity. We are in the process of inquiring into this resistance more deeply. We wonder about potential causes of the source of this resistance, such as cognitive overload, difficulty in understanding the value and process of reflective practice, affective aspects (Middendorf et al., 2015), and cultural factors within the profession of Athletic Therapy. Instructors have begun to address these issues through different approaches to assessment and obtaining feedback.
In our interviews, we have asked students about their reflective process and have begun to learn about their challenges. For example, participants felt unsure about what was expected from the reflective process, sometimes had difficulty identifying appropriate experiences to reflect about, and were challenged to dedicate time to reflection while engaged in practical learning experiences. Participants also commented on the feedback they receive from instructors. Additionally, we intend to interview instructors who are encountering “reflective resistance” in their students. Our poster will present results of this inquiry, using a qualitative approach with thematic analysis of the interviews with students and instructors, as we work towards creating a culture of learners.
