Health Professions Educational Research Symposium

Innovative Strategies for Learning Standardized Assessments

Auditorium B

Introduction: With the pendulum being shifted to conducting standardized assessments in physical therapy practice for the purpose of functional limitation reporting and reimbursement, physical therapy students are required to be prepared to execute standardized assessments prior to entering the clinical arena. Educators can no longer simply expose students to certain standardized assessments but rather have to ensure that students learn them. In learning the measure, students cannot just memorize items; they must be able to use the measure with a patient. Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to describe and demonstrate active learning strategies utilized in hybrid (blended) education to address the learning challenges of standardized assessments in physical therapy education. Description of Innovation: Several strategies requiring active student engagement in the course material were utilized in a hybrid neuromuscular systems course. Videos were created using real patients performing standardized assessments. In an on-line platform, students watched the patient perform the assessment and scored each item based on real patient performance. Following the scoring, students were required to interpret the findings and develop a treatment plan. Outcomes: Students received feedback on their scoring and interpretation prior to having patient experiences where they conducted the standardized assessment with a patient. Discussion: The strategies discussed engage students in learning about the standardized assessment, scoring it, and interpreting the findings prior to practicing the psychomotor execution of the test. The audience will be taken through an example of learning activities to promote audience engagement in the learning process. Key Words: Standardized Assessments, Active Learning