A question about pandemic learning in PT school

[Nava.]

I have been struggling a lot with learning in graduate school during this pandemic. This whole virtual thing sucks. My school has essentially transplanted their in-person structure into zoom, and I just don't feel like it's working. At first, I told myself it was just for a couple semesters, and then it would all be fine when we go back in person. But as time goes on, I get more and more concerned that this will have lasting effects on my education and then therefor my abilities as a PT.

I was talking with some classmates on how they could change class structure, and we couldn't really come up with any good solutions. So, I was wondering if your school is doing something that you think works well? Are your classes synchronous or asynchronous? I'm very interested to see what other schools are doing and if they are working or not. I would really appreciate the input. Thank you!

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[LaurPT]

I have been struggling a lot with learning in graduate school during this pandemic. This whole virtual thing sucks. My school has essentially transplanted their in-person structure into zoom, and I just don't feel like it's working. At first, I told myself it was just for a couple semesters, and then it would all be fine when we go back in person. But as time goes on, I get more and more concerned that this will have lasting effects on my education and then therefor my abilities as a PT.

I was talking with some classmates on how they could change class structure, and we couldn't really come up with any good solutions. So, I was wondering if your school is doing something that you think works well? Are your classes synchronous or asynchronous? I'm very interested to see what other schools are doing and if they are working or not. I would really appreciate the input. Thank you!

hello,

i'm at ohio university PT school and our classes are half of the time in class and then zoom calls for the other half. we meet in person every day for 3 to 4 hours except on wednesdays. every morning we have zoom lecture so when we do in person, its around 12pm. we have 48 students and we are split into two groups. the groups are in separate rooms and the professor will be in one room and put himself basically on zoom on the big TVs for the other room. that part sucks but we learn patient care skills and he comes to our room eventually to reiterate anything that we couldnt hear or see on the zoom call. every week, we switch rooms so that atleast we have one week of true "in person" and having the professor in the same room when lecturing. we also did our neuro lab in person on tuesdays for 2 hours and crammed all the anatomy into a couple weeks and now we are back online for neuro lecture since we already saw all the neuro anatomy structures in lab. online is tough, so i feel your pain. id be happy to answer any other questions!

 

[honeybadger_PT]

I am currently going to sac state and right now we only have our pathokinesiology lab in person while everything else is online. We usually have two weeks of online lecture and then one straight week of in person labs. They did that so that if someone were to get covid, they would develop symptoms over the two weeks and know not to come into lab. The labs are about 4 and half hours long and there are 32 of us split into two different rooms. We have two professors teaching lab so that is very helpful when learning palpations, but they also have a camera going that allows us to see the other room so that we can feel more connected to the other half of the class. After thanksgiving we aren't having anymore in person labs which is a bummer but they set that up as a precaution as a lot of people may visit family. Having anatomy labs online really sucks and I don't think we are learning as well as we could be for that class, but our professor is trying his best with having us draw structures during zoom labs and showing us lots of cadaver pictures. Most of our other lectures are asynchronous, but during the scheduled "class times" our professors are usually available for office hours to ask questions which is very helpful. I think for next semester, the tentative plan is to have in person labs every other week, but we will have to wait and see since covid cases are starting to spike back up again in California.

 

[Azimuthal]

Please try to ask as many questions as possible and send videos/ use videos when communicating with professors to ensure basic things like measurements are done correctly. Continue practicing with anyone in your immediate bubble and as safely as possible.

I am a CI in CA and have noticed a decline in the quality of hands on application. Didactics is also lacking. This is expected but it is becoming more work placed on the CI and I am now considering not taking students until the pandemic is cleared. When I brought this up to the local school, I am told they are doing the best they can with the situation. I advised them to find a way to make students accountable for practicing additional hours of practicum across the board. We have had 6 students and all feel that we understand what the students are going through, however we will not compromise the profession over pity.

 

[sTIFFmovement]

I feel your pain! We only go to lab 4 times a month. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Our classes are mainly synchronous virtually. & it’s most 90% most likely to stay in virtual format for another two semesters for us in CA.