No abstract

Health care professionals are expected to use a systematic approach based on evidence, professional reasoning and client preferences in order to improve client outcomes. In other words, they are expected to work within an evidence-based practice (EBP) context. This expectation has had an impact on occupational therapy academic programs' mandates to prepare entry-level clinicians who demonstrate competence in the knowledge, skills and behaviors for the practice of evidence-based occupational therapy. If the EBP approach is to be entrenched in the day to day practice of future clinicians, a pedagogically sound approach would be to incorporate EBP in every aspect of the curriculum. This, however, would require a comprehensive understanding of EBP: its basis, the principles that underpin it and its effectiveness in promoting core professional competencies. The existing literature does not elucidate these details nor does it shed light on how requisite competencies for EBP are acquired in professional education in general and in occupational therapy education in particular. Drawing from educational psychology and EBP in the health professions, this paper provides a critical review of the evidence that supports EBP and the effectiveness of EBP teaching and assessment interventions in professional heath sciences programs and offers suggestions for the design of EBP instruction, grounding recommendations in educational theory for the health professions.

No abstract

No abstract

Academic and clinical educators can use identified gaps in knowledge and synthesis of concepts to update the evidence-based practice content in occupational therapy curricula and fieldwork.

The paper introduces a framework concerning conceptions of teaching and learning of advanced graduate students and the trajectory of change in their conceptions following a formal course on course design and teaching. Students were enrolled in six sections of this graduate course, two offered in a 6-week format and 4 in a 13-week format. The courses were taught by three different instructors. Data were obtained from 88 doctoral students before and after the course using four questions pertaining to the meaning of effective teaching, effective learning, role of the teacher, and role of the learner. Using an open coding procedure, four conceptions were identified. These were transmitting knowledge, preparing context/managing instruction, promoting course learning, and promoting life-long learning. The generalized linear model procedure was used to conduct within and between group pre and post course comparisons. Overall, there was a significant change in response frequency ratios in all four categories across all courses, indicating a decrease in the responses in the first two categories and an increase in the frequency of responses in the last two categories. No significant differences were attributed to course type or instructor.Keywords Teaching conceptions Á Higher education Á Change in conceptions Á Thinking about teaching and learning Á Graduate teaching development Research on teaching conceptions began to appear in scholarly journals more than three decades ago. At the outset, the research was primarily focused on conceptions of school teachers (for reviews see Calderhead 1996;Fang 1996). The extension of this research to the tertiary context is more recent and the corresponding empirical literature relatively nascent. This research has mostly explored the nature and scope of conceptions of different populations including ''excellent academics'' (e.g., Andrews et al. 1996;Hativa et al.

Engida Gebre is a PhD Candidate in Educational Sciences (Learning Sciences). His work centers around student engagement, design of learning environments, use of computers as learning tools, and effective university teaching. Alenoush Saroyan is a Professor in Educational Psychology with extensive research on pedagogical/faculty development, academic leadership, and quality assurance and accreditation. Robert Bracewell is Professor Emeritus, Educational Psychology. His research interest focuses on use of information technologies for instruction, cultural historical activity theory, and complex cognition. AbstractThis study examined dimensions of student engagement in technology rich classrooms and the relationship of this engagement to professors' conceptions of effective teaching. We collected questionnaire data from 332 students and analysed the data in relation to the finding of another study (Authors, forthcoming) involving 13 professors' coursespecific conceptions of effective teaching. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation revealed four dimensions of student engagement: cognitive and applied engagement, social engagement, reflective engagement and goal clarity. Subsequent multivariate and univariate analyses of variance showed that the extent of students' cognitive and applied engagement and social engagement is related significantly to professors' conceptions of effective teaching. The study has implication on design and assessment of technology-rich learning environments and on faculty development programs involving technology use in their teaching.If one agrees that learning environments influence the extent of student engagement (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000) and that the design of these environments, in turn, is influenced by teachers' views and orientations about effective teaching (Kember & Kwan, 2000;Pajares, 1992), then one would assume that a full understanding of computer use in classroom contexts will require examining the learning environment, including the nature and extent of student engage-

This study is the first to describe state and trait intellectual curiosity in undergraduate medical education. Findings suggest that medical students' state curiosity may not be optimally supported and highlight avenues for further research.