CHCS - Perspectives - Summer/Fall 2014

PERSPECTIVES • SUMMER–FALL 2014 55 individuals and patients into the classroom so students can apply what they learn to real people under the watchful of eye of faculty members and lab assistants. Another common myth about hybrid instruction is that technology is the driving force behind designing the curriculum. Technology does not drive our curriculum. Our student-learning outcomes and course objectives— what the student should be able to think, do, say, or demonstrate when a course is completed—drive curricula and courses. Beginning with out- comes in mind, our faculty members choose the most appropriate online and face-to-face strategies to meet these outcomes. some of these strategies (YouTube channels, Voicethread, Jeopardy , screen capture, Collaborate sessions) do use technology. But those strategies are chosen because they support the intended learning out- come—not just because they are technical. A great example of this is in our Applications of evidence-Based Practice class taught by Kathleen Rockefeller, sc.D., M.P.H., PT, associate professor and research coordi- nator, because she uses online videos describing statistical tests she found on YouTube. Her face-to-face class time is spent teaching students how to conduct a thorough online search for evidence or walking students through a critical appraisal of a research report. Thus, the choice to use technology should make sense and enrich instruction. In Communication and Cultural Competence, an expected outcome is that students will understand how values, attitudes, stigmas, and prejudice affect health care delivery. Keiba shaw, ed.D., PT, associate professor, asks students to create a private video blog in which they share their bi- ases, prejudices, and reactions in a candid format that only she can view. This blog helps students confront their own prejudices in a safe environ- ment. When students come together face-to-face, they discuss and ex- plore the broader implications of bias on PT practice. This is a great example of what thoughtful fusion looks like in action. Personal online videos give students an intimate voice that is difficult to obtain in the face- to-face classroom, while classroom time is used to bring students to the larger issues in the profession and society. FOSTERING COGNITIVE PRESENCE: THE HEART OF BLENDED LEARNING Thus far, you have read how our hybrid program fosters instructor pres- ence and social presence in a blended curriculum. These are two com- ponents of the “Community of Inquiry” (COI) described by garrison and Vaughan 1 . Our faculty members also pay attention to the third component of the COI termed “cognitive presence,” which is defined by garrison and Vaughan 1 as a recursive process in which students move from being puz- zled to connecting ideas, concepts, and solutions. Part of cognitive presence is linking what is done online with what is done in the classroom. Melissa Lazinski, D.P.T., PT, OCs, assistant pro- fessor, does exactly that in Clinical Anatomy—a course designed to im- prove students’ working knowledge of anatomy as well as their palpation skills. Her class is broken down into units based on regional anatomy. During the online component of each unit, students watch and listen to her lectures, view Dr. Lazinski’s detailed videos on how to palpate a re- gion, and, of course, consult their textbook and other resources. Before coming to campus, students become actively engaged when they locate, palpate, and mark anatomical structures on friends and family members, photograph the landmarks, and upload them to the online class- room. students also videotape themselves performing a palpation and upload the video to their YouTube channels. students receive feedback on their palpation photos and videos from Dr. Lazinski as well as from their peers before stepping foot in the classroom. During face-to-face ses- sions on campus, students practice the skills they’ve already been learn- ing, receive additional feedback from faculty members, and take skills checks or practical exams. Another example of creating cognitive presence is the way Thomas Arnold, Ph.D., professor, uses matrices in his basic science classes to help students digest and organize information during the online portion of the month. In his live Blackboard Collaborate sessions, Dr. Arnold refers to the matrices and uses student questions to lead this discussion. This preparation grooms the students for the interactions during the face-to- PHYSICAL THERAPY Tampa 1 Garrison, D.R., and Vaughan, N.D. (2008). Blended learning in higher education: framework, principles, and guidelines. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Continued on the next page...