Kudos to the AOTA and NBCOT for organizing the first Education Summit for OT and OTA faculty. Sessions focused on pedagogy and instructional design, capacity building, and foundations for OT/OTA education and practice. Although the ratio of OTA to OT related content was disappointingly low (approximately 1:15 for plenary sessions and 1:19 for poster sessions), I was able to make connections with like-minded individuals who are interested in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the possibility of collaborating. What questions do you have about teaching and learning related to OTA education? Here are some of mine...

What variables are predictors of success in an OTA program?

Are the characteristics of OTA students different than those of OT students? If so, in what way?

How is OTA education different from OT education?

Can we generalize the findings from studies related to OT education to OTA education?

Does the profession value research related to the education of OTA practitioners? 

I would love to hear your ideas.

 
Arrived home late last month from a tremendous trip to the AOTA conference Indianapolis with friend and colleague Sue Sain, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA. While there were many sessions and events worthy of a blogpost I wanted to begin with information about SoTL, aka, Scholarship for Teaching and Learning. Led by Andrea Bilics, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA; John White, PhD, OTR/L; and Ann James, PhD, this session consisted of presentations and group discussions designed to foster collaborative research to provide evidence for best practice in OT education. In my own research I have found precious little published literature about OT education and no published literature about the education of OTA students! I am looking forward to the opportunity to dialogue with these scholars and participate in collaborative research to identify effective instructional methods.