Developing and Implementing an Educational Research Agenda

Lessons Learned in Physical Therapy: Past, Present, Future

Gail M. Jensen, PhD, PT, FAPTACreighton University, Omaha, NE

Overview

Past: My individual journey Working assumptions Survival strategies Research agendas

Present: Crossing boundaries Practical strategies Link theory with practice and practice with theory

Future: What could and should be…. Commonplaces for Educational Research Ideas for what could be…..

Past: Individual journey

Road less traveled……

Past: Individual Journey

Working Assumptions Education- teaching/learning is a central element

of patient care as well as professional education Doctoral work in education as an applied field is

enhanced by disciplinary theory (eg, psychology, anthropology, sociology)

Read broadly – know the legacy and experience the humanities

Value historical, theoretical and conceptual work

Past: Individual Journey Be patient, persistent, and productive

Do not give up on your profession (even if you are tempted…)

Network (inside and outside) -- Work your political system Seek out colleagues for support Infiltrate with new ideas Make connections between theory and practice

Feed your soul American Educational Research Association (Division I) Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and

Learning (CASTL) (SoTL) Assessment of student learning

Education Research AgendaAmerican Physical Therapy AssociationEducation Division, 2003

Diverse and engaged participants How do faculty and students contribute to learning

and development process? Participatory Cultures

What is the culture that leads to quality physical therapy education?

Interactive teaching and learning What interactive teaching and learning processes

are used to prepare graduates for practice?

Education Research AgendaAmerican Physical Therapy AssociationEducation Division, 2003

Connected program requirements How do PT programs create coherence across

the curriculum and help students transition between classroom and practice?

Adequate resources What are the resources needed to support faculty,

students and PT program infrastructure?

AERA- Division I (Education in the Professions)Agenda for Professions Education Research- Core Areas (1980s)

Student selection/admissions to professional education

Student learning and development Faculty development and evaluation Competence assessment and professional

accountability Continuing professional education Social influences on educational policy

American Association of Higher Education (AAHE, 2002) Research Agenda/Assessment

Learning about learning Pedagogical strategies that support learning Creating institutional environments that

support learning Student involvement in own learning First year/Senior experience Educating for global understanding

Present: Crossing Boundaries

Present: Crossing BoundariesPractical strategies

Collaborate within and outside of your profession Work cross communities within your profession (eg,

link arms with the positivists…they can be useful) Bring educational research/inquiry into your daily

environment Broaden conception of research/scholarship Work at organizational level (role and reward

system; links to strategic planning; institutional assessment expectations)

Present: Crossing BoundariesLink theory and practice

Use middle range theory to frame or interpret your practical work

Follow the work of national initiatives/leaders (eg, Carnegie Foundation; AERA; work in other health professions)

Use national initiatives as tool on campus Keep your focus on learning

Table of Learning (Shulman, 2002)

Commitment Engagement

Judgment Understanding

Reflection Action

motivation

knowledge

performancecritique

design

identity

COMPREHENSION

TRANSFORMATION

INSTRUCTIONALPERFORMANCE

REFLECTIVEEVALUATION

NEW COMPREHENSION

(teacher knowledge of subject matter)

(prepare, organize, select teachingmaterials; understand where studentsare coming from..)

(teacher-student interaction; understandmisconceptions)

(teacher-student evaluation)

(learning from experience)

Model of Pedagogical Reasoning and Action (Shulman, 1987)

Commonplaces of ProfessionsProfessing the Liberal Arts (Shulman 2004)

ProfessionAs Service

Theory for Practice

PracticeWork is done

Learning from experience Community of PracticePublic and communal

Judgment underUncertaintyTechnical/moral

ExternalFocus on competence

Structures ofThe person

InternalFocus onmeaning

Contextualframes

Active Learner in Lived context

Development

Reasoning

Self-reflection

Performance

(abstract, sound, insightful)

(integrative, ethical) (perceptive, insightful, adaptive)

(reflective)

Mentkowski and colleagues, 2001

Levels of Reflection(Van Manen, 1977)

Practical//technical Level

Interpretive Level

Critical Level

How to questions

What does this mean questions

What ought to be questions

Reflection……Meta-cognition

Knowing about ….Knowing how

Future: What could or should be done…

Commonplaces for Educational Research (Shulman, 2004)

Research problems/issues/topics Problems – theoretical or practical? Processes (learning)or specific topic

Research setting Laboratory (experimental) Natural setting/practical

Research investigator Background/training (lens)

Commonplaces for Educational Research (Shulman, 2004)

Research methods Tradition of psychology – experimental and correlational Other disciplines- naturalistic/ethnographic/cases

Research purpose Theory, practice or policy

Generalizability Across people Across situations Bridge building – What is this a case of?

Dreams……What could be…

Carnegie’s Preparation of Professions Program (PPP) The PPP has identified three dimensions of or apprenticeships

for professional education. Intellectual training to learn the academic knowledge base and

the capacity to think in ways important to the profession. A skill-based apprenticeship of practice, including clinical

judgment. An apprenticeship to the ethical standards, ethical comportment,

social roles, and responsibilities of the profession, through which the novice is introduced to the meaning of an integrated practice of all dimensions of the profession, grounded in the profession’s fundamental purposes.

Carnegie Study of Medicine Selected Research questions: Curriculum: How does the formal and informal curriculum support

the professional development of knowledge, skills and professionalism?

Pedagogy: What teaching/learning methods facilitate learning of knowledge, skills and values in clinical education?

Learning: How do students/residents learn to think, perform and act like a physician? What are the common struggles and transitions that student/residents encounter in becoming physicians?

Assessment: How are the knowledge, skills and professionalism of students and residents assessed?

Context: How are current university and practice environments affecting teaching and learning for students and residents? What should medical education be doing entirely differently?

Signature Pedagogies in the Professions (Shulman, 2005)

To THINK To PERFORM To ACT with INTEGRITY Important – make a difference as they form

Habits of mind Habits of heart Habits of hand

What about the rest of us???

Future: What could be…

Organizational/scholarly vehicles that facilitate --Interprofessional/interdisciplinary work

Consensus effort to connect educational research and practice

Build strong/collaborative linkages across non-physician health professions

Thank You!!

References Curry L, Wergin J and assoc, (1993). Educating Professionals. San

Francisco,CA: Jossey-Bass. Green J, Camilli G, Elmore P (eds), (2006). Handbook of Complementary

Methods in Education Research. AERA, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Mentkowski M and associates. (2000) Learning that Lasts. San Francisco,CA:

Jossey-Bass. Shulman L. (2004). Teaching as Community Property: Essays on Higher

Education. San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass. Shulman L. (2004). The Wisdom of Practice:Essays on Teaching, Learning and

Learning to Teach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Shulman L. (2005). Signature Pedagogies in the Professions. Daedalus. Sullivan W. Work and Integrity.(2005). 2nd ed. San Francisco,CA: Jossey-Bass. Journal of Physical Therapy Education: Special issue on the scholarship of

teaching and learning. Haddad A, Jensen G (editors), Winter 2005, Vol 19 (3)