Beyond Scholarly Teaching: Opportunities for Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Physical Therapist Education

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in a Physical Therapy Program

“…The profession of physical therapy has been supportive of SoTL in physical therapy education for several years. CAPTE has required ongoing scholarly activity by all core faculty, and has cited programs whose faculty was not engaged in ongoing scholarly work (Hinman and Darden ). CAPTE explicitly includes the scholarship of teaching in its definitions of faculty scholarly activity (American Physical Therapy Association ).…”

“…Hinman and Darden () describe opportunities for SoTL in physical therapy in a 2006 position paper dedicated specifically to that topic. They identify six broad themes of inquiry relating to SoTL in physical therapy: recruitment and admissions, curriculum design, teaching and evaluation methods, graduate performance, faculty development and evaluation, and program evaluation and accreditation.…”

“…Given the cost to the student and university, demands on faculty time and efforts, and dearth of current evidence supporting specific admissions processes, this is potentially a rich area of inquiry. Hinman and Darden () identified the interview process and recruitment fairs as potential areas of SoTL activity. Service learning is an important and explicit component of our curriculum, and we have identified service as a desirable attribute of applicants to our program.…”

“…In the area of curriculum design, Hinman and Darden () identify clinical education as another potential arena of investigation. The structure, distribution, location, and duration of clinical internships and experiences vary considerably across programs.…”