Physical Therapist Student Perceptions of Creating and Consuming Peer-Generated Flipped Content to Augment Psychomotor Learning
Purpose:
The National Study of Excellence and Innovation in Physical Therapist Education supports innovative educational design (Jensen, Hack, Nordstrom, Gwyer, & Mostrom, 2017). The flipped classroom has shown increased mastery and implementation of content (McLaughlin et al., 2014). Likewise, reciprocal peer teaching (RPT) has proven effective in enhancing students’ learning (Lydon, 2017; Irvine 2017). Combining these two active learning techniques creates an innovative strategy of peer-generated flipped content (FC). The purpose of this study was to explore student perceptions of creating and consuming peer-generated FC to augment psychomotor learning. We hypothesize that students will view this educational design favorably.
Methods/Description:
As part of RPT, first year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students created manual muscle test videos to augment psychomotor learning. Students accessed the videos via an online learning management platform. Upon course completion, students had the opportunity to complete a seven-point Likert online survey on their perceptions of teaching and learning from peers. All participants were provided with electronic informed consent. This study was approved by the IRB at a public university in Texas.
Results/Outcomes:
Ninety-one 1st year DPT students (34 male, 57 female, age 20-41) agreed to participate. When creating FC as the peer teacher, 69 students (76.7%) reported a positive impact on content understanding, and 72 students (80%) reported improved preparation for psychomotor assessments. In contrast, when viewing FC as a peer learner, only 45 students (50%) reported a positive impact on content understanding and improved preparation for psychomotor assessments. Overall, the vast majority of students, 83.5% (76 students), positively rated their overall experience acting as peer teacher. However, only 50.5% of students (46) positively perceived the experience as peer learner.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
DPT programs continue to pursue active-learning designs to improve student-directed learning through the use of FC and RPT (McLaughlin et al., 2014; Lydon, 2017; Seenan, 2016). Reciprocal peer-generated FC was seen as beneficial by DPT students and may be a useful tool for DPT educators. Faculty should be aware of student-perceived discrepancies between creating FC as a peer teacher compared to consuming FC as a peer learner and may consider utilizing near-peer mentorships when creating flipped content to improve FC accuracy.