Introduction/Rationale: Experiential learning has been shown to be a beneficial method for facilitating critical thinking among occupational therapy students. This presentation will examine how the critical thinking skills of entry-level doctoral students in occupational therapy are impacted by two distinct experiential learning environments: (a) virtual patient simulations and (b) in-person community-based practice.
Objectives:
- Describe the difference in perceptions of critical thinking between virtual experiential learning and in-person experiential learning.
- Identify what students perceive as contributing most to their critical thinking skills in the virtual experiential learning environment compared to the in-person experiential learning environment.
Methods / Approach: A quasi-experimental design utilized repeated measures within a single group with all participants following this order of procedure: administration of survey one (online), virtual experiential learning, administration of survey two (online) survey, in-person experiential learning, administration of survey three (online). The survey explored critical thinking skills and student perceptions of how learning environments contribute to their critical thinking.
Results / Practice Implications: Results explore differences in critical thinking between experiential learning contexts and how students perceive contributions to their critical thinking in each environment. Results can help direct instructional design in occupational therapy education.
Conclusion / Contribution to the occupational therapy profession: With a better understanding of the impact of the experiential learning environment on critical thinking, instructors can (a) design experiences which include elements identified as contributing most to the development of occupational therapy students’ critical thinking skills and (b) provide evidence for including both virtual and in-person experiential learning experiences in occupational therapy curriculums.