Comparison of two different online educational strategies for increasing students’ knowledge about physiotherapy management of spinal cord injury (SCI): a randomised controlled trial

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12614000422628

Enrollment

Registered

2014-04-17

Start date

2014-04-20

Completion date

2014-04-28

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Physiotherapy students require specialised knowledge and training in spinal cord injury (SCI). Physiotherapy education has traditionally occurred using face-to face teaching methods. Recently, online learning has become common in universities and teaching institutions worldwide. Online learning is popular with universities and teaching institutions because it is cost effective. It is popular with students because it is flexible and makes use of technology familiar to them. Despite widespread use little is known about the optimal mode of delivery for online learning. Many randomised controlled trials have investigated online education of healthcare professionals. Most of these trials have indicated that online learning is an effective mode of delivery. However none of these trials have occurred in a country like Bangladesh or involved physiotherapy students. Furthermore none of these trials have investigated Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) as a mode of delivery. Therefore the purpose of this trial is to compare the effectiveness of self-directed delivery of online learning with delivery via a Massive Online Open Course on student knowledge, self-efficacy and satisfaction.

Interventions

Online Education through a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Participants will be enrolled into a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) titled: Physiotherapy Management of Spinal Cord Injuries. The course will run for 5 weeks. Participants will be asked to devote 3 hours per week to the course. Participants will be given 3 tasks each week, namely: 1. Complete 2 to 3 of the lessons within the physiotherapy module of www.elearnSCI.org – these are part of freely available web-based elearn modules created by the International Spinal Cord Society 2. Look at additional readings, videos and resources 3. Contribute to an online discussion run through a closed facebook group. The aim of the course is to equip physiotherapy students with sufficient knowledge to manage a person with SCI. This includes assessing impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions, setting appropriate goals of treatment, formulating an evidence-based treatment plan, implementing treatment and evaluating its success. Adherence to the course will not be directly supervised. However, participants will be emailed and encouraged to register and participate.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Parallel

Primary purpose

Educational / counselling / training

Masking

Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

16 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. 2nd or 3rd year undergraduate physiotherapy students at the Bangladesh Health Professionals Institute 2. over 16 years of age and able to provide informed consent 3. willing to participate 4. regular internet access

Exclusion criteria

1. insufficient English to complete the online modules or to provide consent

Outcome results