Course Descriptions & Curriculum

This course provides an overview of the principles of adult learning; instructional design; instructional methods, skills, media, and evaluation; and instructional technology for use in health, health sciences, and health care delivery arenas. Emphasis will be on the design, delivery, and evaluation of selected units of instruction. Under guided conditions, graduate students will hone teaching skills for use in a wide variety of contexts. 3 s.h.

This course will discuss the broad array of clinical outcomes and their uses from monitoring individual clients to determining Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services payments. In addition to interpreting the psychometrics of outcome measures, students will become aware of the challenges of collecting and using outcome measures in practice and explore methods for facilitating their collection and use. 3 s.h.

This course provides a foundation in population health, including epidemiological methods, community/population assessment, and intervention approaches for culturally diverse and vulnerable populations. The manner in which health care delivery systems, public health agencies, community-based organizations, and other entities work together to develop interventions to improve the health outcomes in the local, national, and global communities they serve will be examined. The role of occupational therapy practice in improving the health of populations will be discussed. 3 s.h.

This course will equip students to analyze progress as a leader and move forward towards innovation for desired professional goals. Students will develop and apply skills to build self-awareness, contextual awareness, collaborative capacity, and implementation strategies for current and future leadership roles. Students will also explore future leadership trajectories, and course content will include expert presentations, review of relevant evidence and frameworks, and development of skills in organizational change for current and future settings. Course goals for students are as follows: (1) Analyze progress as a leader and identify goals for future growth in current and future settings, (2) Demonstrate skills to effectively lead diverse and inter-professional teams, (3) Evaluate workplace and community needs to become agents of change. 3 s.h.

In this course post-professional occupational therapy doctoral students will have the opportunity to explore a topic of interest in an in-depth individualized manner in order to gain knowledge specific to their career goals and in preparation for their Capstone project. The students will identify and work closely with a faculty mentor having expertise in their topic area of interest. Students and mentors will negotiate a contract that will tailor learning activities, milestones and requirements to adequately meet the 3 credit hours required for the course. Individualized learning activities may include but are not limited to conducting a thorough literature review of a topic, conducting a needs assessment, learning new research methods, conducting a mentored research experiment, and/or completing reflective writing assignments. At the conclusion of the course, the student will have formulated a working draft of one's Capstone project. 3 s.h.

At the conclusion of this course, the Post Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate student will have an approved proposal for their Capstone project and therefore be ready to implement the project in the next semester. Throughout the course, students will work closely with their Capstone mentor to write a project proposal and move the proposal from a draft to a finalized version through an iterative process of review and revisions. Emphasis will be on the student's professional growth in scholarly writing and logical thinking through readings, interactions with experienced proposal writers, and response to feedback from mentors and peers. 3 s.h.

This is the final course in the Capstone sequence of courses, and the final course in the post-professional OTD program. During this course, students will complete their Capstone project. The project will demonstrate the synthesis and integration of theory, evidence-based practice and advanced knowledge in one's area of practice. Students will demonstrate professionalism, leadership, and independence. Students will submit a written version of their Capstone Project that is suitable for professional dissemination, and in a final on-campus session, students will deliver an oral presentation of their Capstone Project to an invited audience. 6 s.h.

This course provides an in-depth understanding of instructional design, instructional methods, skills, media, and evaluation for health professionals teaching in academia, clinical, and community settings. Emphasis will be on the development of advanced teaching skills that foster high levels of thinking for all types of learners. Students will apply lessons learned to develop and critique an online instruction module. 3 s.h.

This course provides Post Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate students an intensive teaching experience through observation, assistance, and direct instruction in an online or on campus classroom. Students will be given opportunities to practice fundamental techniques in classroom instruction, including course preparation, design, delivery, and assessment. Emphasis will be on the student's professional growth and work ethic in an academic environment through professional interactions with an experienced teaching mentor and ongoing journal reflections. 3 s.h.

This elective will enable post professional occupational therapy doctoral students to become more effective in the roles of leader, mentor, advocate, and facilitator in the practice of occupational therapy. Students will acquire insights and knowledge that will promote exemplary leadership skills, enhance mentorship, and promote the vision, mission, and provision of occupational services globally. The focus is on intuitive leadership. The intuitive leader is one that is able to fill in gaps of information based on previous experiences and knowledge, effectively synthesize and analyze problems, make decisions with little or extensive information, and employ inventive solutions. The relevance of intuitive thinking, beliefs, roles, cultures, and leadership-mentorship will be highlighted through applied learning experiences. Course goals for the student are as follows: (1) Identify and utilize intuitive leadership skills to enhance and promote optimal leadership-mentorship (2) Effectively evaluate roles, perceptions, behaviors, cultures, and environments in order to facilitate change, (3) Skillfully demonstrate the ability to advance the science of occupation and occupation-based practice within the discipline of occupational therapy. 3 s.h.