Reflections

Looking at the Athletic Training student evaluations from the approved clinical instructors and the feedback from the student course evaluations, the students liked the scenarios and the corresponding required interaction with the clinical instructors.  The students and clinical instructors indicated that there were too many protocols and write-ups, but they felt the interaction developed better understanding that translated into a great foundational skill set of rehabilitation techniques.  The students’ information told me that they were in the clinical sites and put the theories “hands on.” They observed the invasiveness of orthopedic surgery and became more familiar and with the application of rehabilitation progression.

The Rehabilitations course combined with student feedback in the Modalities course has convinced me that giving students an outline of the expected format and content of the protocols is the right way to go.  Providing students with this format helped them to organize their thoughts and writing, which allowed for easier and more effective grading and evaluation. If you look at the difference in formats for the Rehabilitation course students 1, 2, 3, and 4, each of the students had his or her own take on how to write for the assignments.  If you compare these varied formats to the three modalities assignments, you can see the difference in organization for the assignments. The outline provides a structure that allows the student to investigate and write about each specific section. Without identifying each section, it is difficult for beginning level students to choose what content they should provide as well as organize it to meet the goals they have set for the patient in each section.

There are already several revisions to these assignments that I know I need to make in future offerings of these two courses. These revisions should help students to more effectively use the rehabilitation protocols as ways to bridge the theory and practice of athletic training, which has been my goal all along.

1. I need to make the protocols worth points. Since they were not worth any this past year, I actually have one student who still has not completed them at all.  This motivation seems necessary.
2. As I’ve outlined already, I need to provide specific requirements for the protocols. Doing this will give students the opportunity to practice what they’ve been learning and then reflect on it in a way that will increase their understanding of their profession.
3. In order to give students the chance to revise as a way to learn, I need to provide feedback on the protocols as quickly as possible.
4. I plan to tie the assignments together more effectively by incorporating the surgery observations, rehabilitation scenarios, and reflections write-ups together.

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