Speech-language therapy educator reflections on the planning and implementation of education and training during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Urisha Naidoo, Penelope S Flack, Vrinda Rathiram and 4 others
PMID 36226973WHAT IT FOUND
Seven speech-language pathology educators described emergency online teaching as chaotic and isolating, with training that focused on theory rather than skills.
They relied on low-tech tools like WhatsApp to reach students facing data costs and power cuts, noting that clinical training suffered most without direct site access.
Key findings
01Educators felt anxious and overwhelmed by the sudden shift, finding that available training focused on knowledge rather than practical skills for online teaching.
02Clinical training was severely disrupted by site closures, forcing educators to rely on simulations, case studies, and telerehabilitation to meet competencies.
03Communication and engagement were maintained through low-cost, low-tech solutions like WhatsApp, which proved more reliable than video platforms given students' data and connectivity constraints.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study involved only seven participants from a single university, limiting the transferability of findings to other institutions or contexts. All participants were female, which may not reflect the broader demographic of the profession. The data relies on self-reported reflective narratives, which may be subject to recall bias or social desirability. The study describes the experience of educators, not the actual learning outcomes or competence levels of the students.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The first author is also an educator at the university where the study was conducted, which may introduce researcher bias, though member checking was used to mitigate this.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these educators' reliance on simulations and telerehabilitation as evidence that these methods are equivalent to traditional clinical placements. The paper reports on the *experience* of adapting to a crisis, not on the *efficacy* of these adaptations for student competence.