Revolutionizing Education Delivery

Since it was established in 2018, Baylor University’s Department of Occupational Therapy faculty members work closely together to ensure a harmonious flow between the hybrid classroom, in-person lab immersions, on-site simulated clinical experiences, fieldwork experiences with community partners, and doctoral capstones. As a result of this commitment to both innovation and excellence, Baylor has quickly become one of the prominent occupational therapy programs in the United States.

May 8, 2024
Three students study on their laptops while sitting together at a table outside.

Since it was established in 2018, Baylor University’s Department of Occupational Therapy has successfully offered a hybrid program with virtual classes and in-person labs, each developed and implemented by the faculty through technology, collaboration, and evidence-based practice. As a result of this commitment to both innovation and excellence, Baylor has quickly become one of the prominent occupational therapy programs in the United States.

“We are not just reimagining education delivery through our hybrid format,” Marian Gillard, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Department Chair, Clinical Associate Professor, said. “We are revolutionizing it by offering transformative learning experiences that cultivate exploration, adaptation, and clinical reasoning.”

A man assists a woman using a walker during an occupational therapy lab immersion.

Baylor’s Entry-level Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) degree is offered through a hybrid learning model. Students begin the program by engaging in online didactic instruction (roughly 40% of the curriculum) along with staggered simulated clinical experiences and in-person lab immersions in Waco (12%). After their first year in the program, students begin their fieldwork and capstone experiences at community locations across the country.

“We’ve developed a recipe that allows accessibility for students wherever they are in their lives. The hybrid model allows students to have a high-level graduate school experience, regardless of where they are physically located and without needing to move themselves or their families to wherever the program is located,” Teresa Fair-Field, OTD, OTR/L, Clinical Assistant Professor, said. “In return, it has real potential to resolve a lot of the disparities that we see across the country related to therapy access. Many of our students are interested in staying at or returning to their home communities, in rural or underserved areas, and bringing the possibilities provided by occupational therapy into those communities.”

Baylor’s OTD curriculum is designed to be completed within two years. This accelerated schedule differs from most programs, but the Department was intentional in its design, which emphasizes high-quality instruction not only in the classroom, but also in real-world and simulated clinical experiences.

“What we do at Baylor has not been done in other OTD programs—it is a cutting-edge, accelerated, hybrid program that is a pioneer in occupational therapy education. When we attend conferences, we are frequently asked, ‘How can you do that in two years and provide all the information they need?’” Kirsten Davin, OTD, OTR/L, ATP, SMS, Clinical Assistant Professor, added. “It’s not just a matter of trusting the people you work with, but it’s also trusting the process itself and the design that was put into the program.”

Kirsten Davin and Teresa Fair-Field pose together for a portrait.

Baylor OTD faculty members work closely together to ensure a harmonious flow between the hybrid classroom, in-person lab immersions, on-site simulated clinical experiences, fieldwork experiences with community partners, and doctoral capstones. Fair-Field and Davin are shining examples of such teamwork—Fair-Field engages students within the didactic coursework, while Davin thrives in leading clinical fieldwork education. They come together at the intersection of the team’s on-site time when students complete hands-on learning and demonstrate their clinical skills.

“It requires creativity and innovation at each of these steps, along with a sense of trust and respect in one’s teammates. At the end of year one, we make these secure hand-offs to the fieldwork team that result in a successful clinical placement for students in year two,” Fair-Field explained. “Each faculty member needs to be well-placed and teaching to their strengths.”

Davin described Fair-Field as “the expert of making all things interesting online, complete with outfit changes and music.” She teaches through innovative instructional strategies, creating an engaging and inclusive learning environment.

“I think it’s all about building connection,” Fair-Field said. “It takes a vital presence on camera, an understanding of gesture and space, as well as an understanding of the technology and how it works.”

When it is time for fieldwork education, Davin appoints hands-on, practical experiences that equip students “for the changing demands of the occupational therapy profession,” a central tenet of the program’s mission. The Department has partnered with a nationwide network of more than 5,500 clinical fieldwork sites, which allows students to be paired in terms of practice setting and geographic region.

“Everything we do, including the technologies that we employ and clinical experiences we provide, all strive to reach that end goal—that when our students leave us, wherever they wind up, they have the skill set and the competence to be successful,” Davin said.

“We’ve developed a recipe that allows accessibility for students wherever they are in their lives. The hybrid model allows students to have a high-level graduate school experience, regardless of where they are physically located and without needing to move themselves or their families to wherever the program is located.”

Teresa Fair-Field, OTD, OTR/L

The Department recently introduced virtual reality into its latest lab immersion, designed to enhance learning through an interactive environment. Currently, virtual reality is integrated into three courses that OTD students experience during their first year. Faculty believe it holds the potential to enhance theoretical knowledge, refine practical proficiencies, and elevate overall learning satisfaction.

“We can fit a lot of learning—very dynamic learning—into a short period of time, and there’s a lot of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning going on, so it’s very contextualized,” Kayla Collins, MOT, EdD, OTR/L, Entry-level OTD Program Director, Clinical Associate Professor, explained. “Our students can move through a virtual reality scenario in 15 minutes and have this really rich learning experience, one that might have taken us hours to do otherwise. We have an accelerated program, so we must use our time efficiently. Virtual reality helps us create more efficient learning experiences that are just as rich and deep—if not deeper—than what we can do with other types of activities.”

Two students participate in virtual reality while wearing Oculus glasses, and a professor looks on.

The Department celebrated the graduation of its second cohort of practitioners in December 2023. Asked what her hope is for the recent graduates, Fair-Field said, “Hands down, I hope our students walk away with curiosity. One of my favorite things to hear students say is ‘The more I learned, the more I realized what I don’t know.’ I think that’s one of the most powerful insights one can have. We are providing them with the tools to develop lifelong learning practices, because there’s no way that you can teach every clinical scenario, regardless of a program’s length. So, I think it’s vital to build in that curiosity, especially when it comes to understanding the human experience, because our circle and our own community is such a limited view of humanity.”

Technology and teaching methods will continue to evolve. That said, Baylor’s OTD students will continue to find innovative, engaging, and meaningfully designed courses. Collins, Davin, and Fair-Field are adamant that the technology used by the Department is something that is critical to the program’s success, along with recruitment and retention of faculty who understand how to leverage that technology successfully into the classroom.

“I think this is where education needs to go. You cannot solve really difficult problems with only one model. If you’re protective of education in the way that it’s traditionally been performed, you can’t bring the creativity that those difficult problems require,” Fair-Field stated. “It takes thinking in new ways to really tackle some of these issues.”