Students' experiences of using a writing-intense programme to facilitate critical thinking skills on an online clinical training platform: A pilot study.
Khetsiwe P Masuku, Anniah Mupawose
PMID 36073079WHAT IT FOUND
Second-year speech pathology students reported that written assignments, peer feedback and educator discussion improved clinical knowledge and confidence.
They also said poor connectivity and uneven participation negatively affected the programme.
Key findings
01Students reported that written assignments improved their clinical knowledge, and feedback from peers and clinical educators improved their learning.
02Students reported that the simulated online clinical component improved their confidence and made clinical learning less stressful.
03Students reported that poor connectivity and inconsistent participation negatively affected the programme.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot study with 29 second-year speech pathology students, all women, recruited through non-probability purposive convenient sampling. The paper reports participant ages as 18 to 20 years, but some quoted students are listed as 21 years old. The study used student reflections only; it did not report grades, academic literacy outcomes, or cognitive academic language proficiency. Clinical educators and course coordinators were not included, so their views are missing. Students may not have answered all questions, so comparisons between students or within a student's responses were not feasible. Participation was voluntary and not graded, so the reflections may represent students who chose to submit them. The programme was delivered online during the COVID-19 pandemic, and access to data, devices and electricity affected participation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that a writing-intense online programme improves critical thinking or clinical competence. The study reports students' reflections after a small pilot, without grades, academic literacy outcomes, or clinical educator perspectives.