Distance Education in Occupational Therapy: Comparison of On-Campus and Hybrid Student Outcomes

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To accommodate more people in a changing student population, distance education has been on the rise at the postsecondary level. Different delivery models allow students more flexibility and the ability to improve communication skills necessary in the global health environment (Hollis & Madill, 2006). Allowing at least some courses to be delivered online has proved beneficial for many health care programs. In the nursing field, teaching clinical skills using a blended model was found to provide students with the same necessary knowledge as a traditional pathway (McCutcheon et al., 2015).

For occupational therapy, the number of programs offering some form of distance education continues to increase. For the 2014–2015 academic year, over 70% of doctoral-degree-level occupational therapy programs offered some type of distance education, up from 50% the year before (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2015). The purpose of this study was to compare the performance outcomes of students in a traditional on-campus entry-level doctor of occupational therapy (OTD) pathway with those of students in a hybrid pathway. The research question addressed was, Are there differences in learning outcomes between on-campus and hybrid pathway students?

METHOD: This study used a retrospective, between-groups comparison method to explore differences between various learning and graduate outcomes of on-campus and hybrid pathways within the entry-level OTD program. Study participants were students enrolled in an entry-level OTD program at a private university in the Midwestern United States who graduated in 2016 and 2017 from one of three pathways–the traditional on-campus pathway and one of two hybrid pathways. The following assessment outcomes were collected from the school’s data warehouse for each participant: grade point average (GPA) at the end of each academic year, cumulative GPA, Fieldwork Performance Evaluation (FWPE) total scores and subsection scores for two Level II fieldwork experiences, National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) practice exam scores, and final NBCOT pass rate. An independent t test was used to analyze whether a significant difference occurred in the outcome variables.

RESULTS: A total of 114 students from the on-campus pathway and 54 students from the hybrid pathways were included. There were no significant (>.05) differences between on-campus and hybrid cohorts for all GPA, FWPE, and NBCOT measures. The mean age of students in the hybrid cohort was significantly higher than that of the on-campus cohort (27 vs. 23). These results indicate no differences in student performance between traditional and hybrid content delivery formats, demonstrating the effectiveness of various content delivery formats in creating positive student outcomes.

CONCLUSION: These results are congruent with previous studies that found no significant differences in most outcomes for students in traditional versus nontraditional pathways (Mu et al., 2014). Additional research is needed to evaluate learning outcomes in the affective domain. As student learning needs continue to change, this study can powerfully influence the future of occupational therapy education by providing an example of an innovative educational model that maintains positive outcomes.

References

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2015). Academic programs annual data report: Academic year 2014–2015. Bethesda, MD: Author. Retrieved from https://www.aota.org/∼/media/Corporate/Files/EducationCareers/Educators/2014-2015-Annual-Data-Report.pdf

Hollis, V., & Madill, H. (2006). Online learning: The potential for occupational therapy education. Occupational Therapy International, 13, 61–78. https://doi.org/10.1002/oti.209

McCutcheon, K., Lohan, M., Traynor, M., & Martin, D. (2015). A systematic review evaluating the impact of online or blended learning vs. face-to-face learning of clinical skills in undergraduate nurse education. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71, 255–270. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12509

Mu, K., Coppard, B. M., Bracciano, A. G., & Bradberry, J. C. (2014). Comparison of on-campus and hybrid student outcomes in occupational therapy doctoral education. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(Suppl. 2), S51–S56. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2014.685S02