Pollie Price, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Occupational and Recreational Therapies, and Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program Director, College of Health, University of Utah, Salt Lake City;
Barb Hooper, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, is Program Director and Division Chief, Occupational Therapy Doctorate Division, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. At the time of the study, Hooper was Academic Program Director and Director, Colorado State University Center for Occupational Education, Fort Collins.
Am J Occup Ther. 2021 Mar-Apr;75(2):7502205120p1-7502205120p8. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2021.038224.
Occupational therapy students must master knowledge of occupation, yet how educators assess such knowledge has not been explored. In this study, we elucidate robust assessment practices that can help students master knowledge of occupation.
To examine practices that educators use to assess knowledge of occupation.
Basic qualitative research. Using inductive and constant comparative methods, we coded 25 interviews and 82 educational artifacts for assessment practices, categorized practices as direct or indirect, and analyzed their alignments with features of robust assessments.
Twenty-five randomly selected occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant academic programs in the United States, stratified by geographic region and institution type.
Twenty-nine educators who represented selected programs.
We found occupation at instruction and program levels primarily in relation to practice using indirect more than direct practices. Assignments were often highly creative and experiential, yet varied in their alignments with established criteria of robust assessments.
Knowledge of occupation was often intertwined with practice-oriented learning experiences and skills; hence, it was not assessed as a distinctly indispensable learning outcome. Educators can build on current practices to design robust assessments that require students to demonstrate knowledge of occupation in practice contexts and everyday life.
In this study, we elucidate a continuum of prevalent educational practices used to assess knowledge of occupation; we also review best practices for robust assessments of such knowledge not only related to practice but also as a dynamic instrument of individual and societal well-being more broadly.
职业治疗学生必须掌握职业知识，但教育者如何评估这种知识尚未得到探索。在这项研究中，我们阐明了可以帮助学生掌握职业知识的有力评估实践。
研究教育者用来评估职业知识的实践。
基础定性研究。使用归纳和恒定比较方法，我们对 25 次访谈和 82 个教育人工制品进行了编码，以评估实践，将实践归类为直接或间接，并分析它们与强有力评估的特征的一致性。
在美国随机选择的 25 个职业治疗和职业治疗助理学术项目，按地理位置和机构类型分层。
代表选定项目的 29 名教育者。
我们发现，在教学和课程层面，职业主要与使用间接实践而不是直接实践有关。作业通常非常具有创造性和经验性，但与既定的强有力评估标准的一致性存在差异。
职业知识通常与面向实践的学习经验和技能交织在一起；因此，它没有被评估为一个明显不可或缺的学习成果。教育者可以在当前实践的基础上设计出强有力的评估，要求学生在实践背景和日常生活中展示对职业的了解。
在这项研究中，我们阐明了用于评估职业知识的普遍教育实践的连续体；我们还回顾了强有力地评估这种知识的最佳实践，不仅与实践有关，而且更广泛地作为个人和社会福祉的动态工具。
