Skill&co: our journey implementing a new skill concept

Background: Skills are essential to OT curricula. But what skills do we integrate and how to we teach them? While developing a new curriculum, we started a challenging journey of finding consensus, defining structures and... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Skills are essential to OT curricula. But what skills do we integrate and how to we teach them? While developing a new curriculum, we started a challenging journey of finding consensus, defining structures and finally implement our new skill concept. Educational Philosophy: We initiated with a broad discussion among lecturers, including an advisory board of practitioners. In our discussions we identified various needs for skill acquisition in an OT curriculum. As a result we defined basic skills taught in all modules and a special track in a longitudinal module over the study course linked to upcoming fieldwork placements. Educational approach: The first obstacle was to find an overall suiting systematic for the skill-labs. Within the longitudinal modules we provide OT based skill-labs (Fisher 2013) including the OTPF domains (AOTA 2014), concept based skill-labs, creative projects and an enablement skill week (Townsend & Polatajko 2013). The enablement skills are also used as an overall systematic to link skill acquisition to interventions of OT and underling theories and evidence. Based on the “simple model of competence” developed by Miller (1990), the methods of role play (Joyner & Young 2006, Bosse et al 2010), the cognitive apprenticeship (Collins 1989), and the integration of simulated patients (Barrows 1993) and real patients by now are experienced as suitable learning concepts. Evaluation: We share hindrances and benefits based on examples of skill-labs (including videos) and present our journey to find the most suitable mix and combination of OT concepts and learning methods for our students.