Students’ Perception of Cognitive Load in an Accelerated DPT Program with a Blended Curriculum

Rossniel Marinas,Tatiana Godoy Bobbio,Shannon Groff,Sunddip Panesar-Aguilar

doi:10.5539/gjhs.v14n2p52

Abstract

Administrators and educators in higher education are interested in how academic tutoring services and gender impact perceptions of cognitive load and, therefore, students&rsquo; academic success. However, a lack of evidence existed in the literature regarding physical therapy students&rsquo; perception of cognitive load in an accelerated Doctor of Physical Therapy program with blended learning. Participants in this quantitative, non-experimental study completed the adapted Cognitive Load Scale to indicate their perception of cognitive load, participation in academic tutoring services, gender, and age. The DPT students perceived high cognitive overload, but a t value of 0.37 and a p value of 0.71 indicated that their perception was not significantly related to gender. Further, a t value of -3.09 and a p value of 0.005 indicated that academic tutoring services played a vital role in minimizing the perception of cognitive overload. However, the p value of 0.11 of the parametric multiple linear regression analysis and the p value of 0.59 of the interaction term indicated no moderating relationship between academic tutoring services and gender. This evidence may assist physical therapy administrators and educators of DPT students in re-structuring blended learning programs and accelerated curricula to reduce student perceptions of cognitive overload.

Highlights

1.1 Introduce the ProblemThe problem is there is a lack of evidence of research identifying the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students’ perception of cognitive load in an accelerated PT program with a blended curriculum
DPT students beginning an accelerated DPT program with blended learning should be educated on the complexity and cognitive demand of blending learning
Those students that experience cognitive overload, experience academic performance challenges, or are identified as being at-risk for failure may benefit from academic tutoring services within the first year of the curriculum

Summary

Introduction

The problem is there is a lack of evidence of research identifying the DPT students’ perception of cognitive load in an accelerated PT program with a blended curriculum. No research was found examining how academic tutoring services and gender influence the perception of cognitive load in an accelerated PT program with a blended curriculum. Some students may experience cognitive overload and unsatisfactory academic performance when learning in a blended curriculum. Variables such as students’ perception of cognitive load, academic tutoring services and gender need to be evaluated to facilitate learning and academic success, enhance a student-centered approach in the classroom and facilitate student well mental being (Castro-Alonso et al, 2019)

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Conclusion