OCCTH 525 ends ... and OCCTH 527 begins!

Summer is finally here ...

With Canada Day festivities, fireworks, and a long weekend to celebrate!

OCCTH 525 (our Level 1 placement for our Year 1 students) ends today.

OCCTH 527 (our Level 3a placement for our Year 2 students) officially begins next week, although placements at some sites have already begun.

OCCTH 528 (our Level 3b placement for our Year 2 students) recruiting is complete and student matching is nearly finished. These placements will occur in September - October 2016.

We have immensely appreciated the support of the Alberta, Saskatchewan and NWT occupational therapists and clinical communities during this first full 'go round' with our new curriculum schedule.

The students in our UofA MScOT Program completed a total of more than 600 fieldwork placements in the recent year ... all because of your generous contribution to their learning and to our great profession!

Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Postcards from the Field

We hope all is well and progressing at the various OCCTH 525 placement sites!

The fieldwork team and I would like to encourage our Year 1 students to send us ‘Postcards from the Field’!

Students are encouraged to send postcards or pictures, complete with interesting anecdotes/experiences from fieldwork and/or life away from Corbett Hall or Calgary Campus, to:

Cori Schmitz

Dept of OT - Faculty of Rehab Med

Corbett Hall 

U of A

Edmonton AB

T6G 2G4

'Postcards' can be sent via snail mail ... we love snail mail!

Or via email:  cori.schmitz@ualberta.ca

We’ll put all the 'postcards' and pictures up for display this fall and we’ll have a draw for something useful and OTish when the students arrive back on campus in September!

So be in touch, Year 1 students ...

We want to hear or see some of your fieldwork stories!

2:1 Student Supervision Model Highlighted in CAOT OT Weekly

You may have seen the short media piece in the Canadian Occupational Therapy Association's OT Weekly (June 14 edition) about how 2 OTs in Regina SK are effectively using a 2:1 model for student supervision?

If not here it is ...

While not a common model outside of role-emerging placements, 2:1 is the model of choice for two OTs in Regina, SK. The model provides “increased opportunities to develop clinical reasoning and reflective practice skills and to gain these skills faster due to peer support.” (Kerri) “They problem solve together before coming to me and in this setting, they have more independence than they would if on their own.” (Holli) Pedagogical benefit for students!  Practical benefit for preceptors!

Consider contacting one of our UofA Fieldwork Team members for more information reagrding strategies for supervising 2 students during the same placement.

A growing number of our Alberta and Saskatchewan clinical educators are now utilizing this 'peer' or collaborative learning model in a variety of practice settings ...

Perhaps it could work for you and your next OT student(s)!