| Introduction: In early 2020,the COVID-19 pandemic caused a majority of in-person higher education, including physical therapy professional education programs, to shift content delivery formats allowing for social distancing to decrease spread of the virus. The purpose of this investigation was to discover physical therapy student and faculty perceived impact from changing to a hybrid program format from a previously utilized synchronous videoconferencing distance-education delivery format. Methodology: A qualitative case study design was chosen for this investigation bounded by the time of switching formats due to the pandemic. Physical therapy students and faculty participated in an agreement survey and semi-structured interviews. Survey and interview data was coded and analyzed to form categories and themes of discovered perspectives. Results: Students and faculty perceived, after changing learning formats, student proficiency of hands-on skills were negatively affected, cross-campus student and faculty interactions improved, and faculty found their teaching improved as they worked to engage students in the new format. Students and faculty felt changing formats would not result in detrimental effects on students’ overall learning nor on their career potential as physical therapists. Discussion: Switching distance-education formats allowed physical therapy students to continue progression of their education. Although an expedited change of formats was successful during the COVID-19 pandemic, a methodically planned, pedagogically based, and well-researched approach in changing formats would likely improve results together with emphasis placed on the following educational traits learned from this investigation. Physical therapy educators utilizing
xi distance-education models should consider and adjust timing of hands-on skill instruction to matchdidactic content to encourage better connection and clinical application. Educators should reflect on their current teaching and content delivery methods to discover possible improvements for engagement and to ensure focused content. Educators must also foster more interaction with students, especially at a distance, who may feel alone in their education. Interaction between distance-separated cohorts can reduce feelings of competition and inequality between campus locations and create improved learning environments and communities. Key Words: Physical therapy education, Distance learning, Synchronous videoconferencing, Hybrid, Student perspectives, COVID-19 |