Using Learner-Generated Videos to Foster Multimedia Communication Skills in Graduate Health Profession Education

Abstract

The advent of graduate level athletic training education programs, including those with online didactic curriculum, encourages instructors to incorporate higher level thinking strategies into their curricula. “Create” and “synthesize” are high-level verbs in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Pathomechanics, the study of how musculoskeletal structure and function affect movement patterns, provides a prime opportunity to emphasize higher levels of critical thinking. Because degree programs in the health sciences are heavily “hands-on” and applied, creatively using technology in an online environment to develop transferable skills is critical for such health specialties as athletic training or physical therapy. The purpose of this experiential case study is to describe a method whereby graduate athletic training students are assessed in their ability to create and synthesize information pertaining to structural and gait anomalies. Doing so will allow for empirical work to determine the efficacy of this approach on student learning. Specifically, learner-generated videos may be used as an assessment tool, either in a traditional classroom or in an online classroom. Students report higher levels of active learning, engagement, and acquisition of competencies following creation of video content, which also fosters multimedia manipulation skills and development of 21st century communication ability. Approximately a month prior to the end of the term, the instructor provides students with the instructions for the assignment, each student’s individual gait prompt, and the rubric. A collaborating multimedia librarian instructs the students in the use of technology for video creation and editing. The deliverable product is a video ~1 minute in length of a gait demonstration of the assigned gait prompt, complete with annotations and voice-over explanations of how the studied gait anomaly may influence kinematics and kinetics throughout the body. Learner-generated videos increase active learning, competency acquisition, and multimedia communication skills. Another primary advantage of this assessment is the potential for student-student and instructor-student collaboration and its ability to be a formative iterative assignment. Furthermore, mastery of pathomechanical content requires synthesis of information from anatomy, physiology, and orthopedic assessment courses. Learner-generated videos offer numerous advantages to student engagement and learning and require synthesis of information from across an athletic training curriculum, serving as a compact and comprehensive assessment.