Design of the OT Curriculum

The occupational therapy curriculum has been designed to reflect the mission of the University, the mission of the OT Department, and the philosophical foundations of the profession. The ongoing interaction between the Department’s research, outreach/service, and teaching activities is central to our curriculum. OT faculty and staff involvement in a number of local, regional, national, and international research and outreach/service activities has directly influenced curriculum design in both content and methods.

Figure 1 presents a schematic diagram of the OT curriculum. Included in the diagram are the key program features and how they relate to each other and to the mission of the University. The curriculum design also provides a framework for on-going program evaluation. Two overarching curriculum design features include (1) faculty directed research and outreach/service, and (2) teaching, both classroom and field based. It is important to note the ongoing interaction between these program features:

Research, outreach and service activities strongly influence and inform teaching in the classroom and in the field. Graduates from our program expand their learning experience such that they can contribute to the OT knowledge base through research and provide community service/ outreach. The research, outreach, and teaching of our faculty adapts and integrates the ever growing knowledge base of OT and related fields for program planning and implementation.

The perspective that underlies the content of the curriculum is based on the philosophy of the occupational therapy profession (Moyers, 1999) AND the broader views of the World Health Organization and its evolving international classification of functioning and disability-ICIDH-2 (http://www.who.int/icidh/).

The sequence of the curriculum follows closely with the World Health Organization’s Classification System (ICIDH2) and the OT Framework, progressing from understanding body structure and function to understanding activity and participation within the context of the environment. Thus, students obtain a broad foundation in body function/structure and client factors primarily through the prerequisites and some portion of the first and second year courses. This is followed by courses emphasizing human activity and occupational performance within a variety of contexts. A large block of intervention courses, biomechanical interventions I & II, psychosocial interventions I&II, and neurobehavioral interventions I&II, allow students to integrate and apply their knowledge of OT theory, human occupation, environmental and contextual factors with their knowledge of body structure/function and client factors. The ultimate focus of all the intervention courses is to prepare students to deliver occupation-based, client-centered interventions that optimize human performance and participation.

The fieldwork experiences allow students to apply classroom learning. Students are involved in on-campus coursework while simultaneously participating in Level I fieldwork. Some of this fieldwork is supervised by faculty and some is supervised by OT practioners in the field. This on-going coursework- fieldwork interaction allows students and faculty to actively use field-based observations and experiences in the teaching-learning process. Furthermore, the direct involvement of faculty in fieldwork settings allows knowledge and experience to flow freely between the University and field-based OT settings – each enhancing the other. This interaction allows for on-going dialog and problem solving related to the profession’s renewed and strengthened focus on human occupation and how this focus plays out in the OT curriculum and in OT practice.

The OT program includes Level II fieldwork in a variety of settings and contexts (127 sites with reservations from a pool of 285 active facilities). Fieldwork sites are selected to match the interests and needs of each individual student, and to provide comprehensive and high quality learning opportunities. Level II fieldwork is designed to build the students’ knowledge and experience base while also allowing the direct application of that knowledge in an environment where feedback and support is available.