Shakil:

I think skills training requires a lot of demonstration and practice. Usually competency-based assessments are used in the latter scenario in which the student is assessed once and then again. If the assessor has any doubt that the student has fully demonstrated the skill to be deemed competent, then the student can be assessed a third time. If after the latter there is doubt, then the student has failed to be competent and would need to retake the module or course. I have attached a link of relevant studies here in RG.

Many thanks,

Debra

https://www.researchgate.net/publicliterature.PublicLiterature.search.html?type=keyword&search-keyword=competency+based+assessment+in+the+UK&search-abstract=&search=Search

Shakil,

If by skill you mean physical techniques then along with prior suggestions, shaping combined with lots of positive and corrective feedback. Shaping means providing positive feedback for first approximations combined with corrective feedback. When this approximation is reliable raise the criterion to more closely approximate the final skilled performance. Continue until final performance is reliable. typically you need small increases in criterion. See books on applied  behavior analysis for more on shaping.. 

Jim

The best teaching methodology is to know your students.  Do not assume they all know where you are coming from.  Conversation, anecdotes etc will allow them to feel comfortable with you as you assist them to grow in understanding.  Not  a pun but hands on with your students gets them to realise you are a learner just as they are.  That is, we can all learn something each day.  If the have to know how to strengthen a patient's right arm show them before what it feels like for a healthy individual to do a right arm exercise.  Do not presume they know.  Then as the patient undergoes the therapy get them to explain to the student what they are feeling, how they are reacting.

Experiential learning is at the core of what you are talking about.  In Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle, the learner goes from concrete experimentation to reflective observation, to abstract conceptualization to finally active experimentation.  The terms can be a bit confusing, so when I teach the cycle I usually say it this way: Do, Reflect, Think, Redo.

In medical areas we often focus on the do component too much, without the reflection and thinking (i.e. you learn more by doing more).  When you are trying to build expertise deliberate practice (Ericcson) is needed in addition to consciously going through the entire experiential learning cycle.  .  

To actively learn from experiences, faculty need to be skilled in debriefing.  I have attached two articles, one that has an overview of the theoretical process and the other on debriefing.

Yours in Service,

Jay Zigmont, PhD, CHSE-A

Learning in Healthcare  http://www.learninginhealthcare.com

Article Theoretical Foundations of Learning Through Simulation

Article The 3D Model of Debriefing: Defusing, Discovering, and Deepening

I agree with Dr. Zigmont and intend to definitely read his research. I teach Health Assessment in a Family Nurse Practitioner Program. I have recently found doing interactive case studies in class and asking students for previous professional experiences, that we can view through the lens of Advanced Practitioner Providers, seems to greatly increased the interest and in depth understanding of the material I am presenting. Then when we go to the lab we again use our class scenarios as we practice assessment skills. This has always been my learning style and it seems to be a successful teaching style thus far.

Perhaps this could be of interest?

 Sofia Backåberg is a PhD student and her research is about video-supported interactive learning

Kindly Camilla

Article Video-based feedback combined with reflective enquiry – An i...

Article Is that really my movement?—Students' experiences of a video...

Conventional curricula don't usually emphasize the acquisition of procedural knowledge (skills) or attitudinal knowledge (attitudes), which are vital to physical therapists. These types of knowledge are thought to be best acquired during residency. Most active learning methodologies, such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL), try to fill in this gap, and research shows that professionals having this educational background fare better during practicum and early professional practice than those coming from more conventional programs. Take a look at the following meta-analyses:

• http://library.bjmu.edu.cn/pbl/document/Learning%20and%20Instruction_2003_13(5)_533.pdf
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8323649

agreed