by – Kim Taylor

After attending the Lilly Conference I became intrigued to learn more about Cognitive Load Theory and how to support our students through reduction of extraneous load through our presentation techniques and instilling more creative interactive collaborative learning activities.

Using Cognitive load as a framework to increase our awareness of how our students learn and how we can better serve them by creating more interactive, problem based learning opportunities was a common theme discussed in many of the breakout sessions. One session that I attended and utilized principles of in my interventions course was integrating student created videos in the classroom by Dr. Jacqueline Riley. Dr. Riley presented an instructors planning guide which I utilized as a template when revising my student’s Occupational Therapy Promotion assignment.

The objective of the assignment was to develop clinical reasoning skills and scholarly inquiry, foster development of therapeutic use of self and professional behaviors and to solidify knowledge base in the Occupational Therapy Process and Domain for assigned areas of practice.

The students were grouped into six groups of three students. The student groups selected an area of practice to include Children and Youth, Mental Health, Health and Wellness, Rehab and Disability, Productive aging and Work and Industry.

The students were assigned to explore resources from the American Occupational Therapy Association Website, Professional journals in Occupational therapy and Rehabilitation in general and course textbooks. Students were provided with samples of video recordings from AOTA on promotion of the profession through three to five minute video presentations. A full class session was devoted to research of assigned practice area and completion of outline to serve as a draft for completing the five minute video presentation illustrating what they learned about the practice area. The outline completion comprised 33% of the total assignment grade.

The second component of the assignment involved selecting and illustrating intervention techniques of interest to portray their understanding of the role of OT in their assigned areas. Students were provided with resources for developing a five minute interactive video representation of what they learned. Students recorded what they learned in a powerpoint style presentation format with video clips using IMAX movie maker and submitted to our course youtube channel for review by the instructor. The video was not graded for its editing quality but for content comprehension, professional behavior, and evidence of cooperative collaborative effort. Students utilized the Austin Community College consent to photograph/videotape release form to obtain permission for all student and community participants included in their video presentation prior to videotaping. The video recording and editing component of the assignment was completed as a group home work assignment. Students were given two weeks to complete. Students were provided with a template and grading rubric to guide them in completing the video component of the assignment which comprised 30% of the assignment grade.

The videos were presented during our OT promotion open house and presented to Health Science Counselors, CEO’s from local hospitals and the Dean of Health Sciences. Students were given the opportunity to share their knowledge with these participants and receive feedback on their video presentation. Professional participation in the open house was required of the students and accounted for 15% of the assignment grade.

The final component of the assignment involved completion of an individual reflection summary inquiring about their understanding of and perceived value of the assignment in meeting course learning outcomes. The individual reflection summary accounted for 22% of the assignment grade. Student reported positive comments in regards to the collaborative creative nature of the assignment and demonstrated comprehension of the content in their written summary.

I hope this sparked your interest in the use of video recording as a means to promote collaborative interactive learning in your classroom.