Transforming traditional physiotherapy hands-on skills teaching into video-based learning

Area of Science:

• Physiotherapy Education
• Medical Education Technology

Background:

• Pandemic restrictions necessitated a shift from on-site to virtual learning environments.
• This transition presented challenges in teaching hands-on psychomotor skills in physiotherapy.
• The study focuses on student evaluations of technology-enhanced learning in Complex Decongestive Physiotherapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the curriculum transformation to virtual learning for physiotherapy.
• To evaluate the implementation and student reception of technology-enhanced learning for psychomotor skills.
• To assess student preferences for traditional versus video-based hands-on skills learning.

Main Methods:

• Replaced on-site lectures with e-learning sessions and live demonstrations with video recordings.
• Utilized videos with instructions, checklists, and paired training for psychomotor skill acquisition.
• Conducted a cross-sectional observational survey to evaluate teaching quality and student preferences.

Main Results:

• Over 50% of students (46 participants) responded to the survey.
• Teaching quality was rated favorably (1.5-1.8 on a -2 to +2 Likert scale).
• A majority of students (66.7%) preferred the new video-based approach, citing constant availability and self-paced learning benefits.

Conclusions:

• Students favored the new video-based learning method for Complex Decongestive Physiotherapy skills.
• Omitting live demonstrations allowed faculty more time for individualized feedback.
• The student-centered, self-paced learning model was sustained post-pandemic and warrants further investigation in other settings.