Using the Teaching Perspectives Inventory in Athletic Training Education to Improve Teaching and Learning Strategies

Abstract

W hen educators and students communicate there are assumptions that both parties understand each other and assumptions about what is meant by the way information, concepts and content are communicated.1-3 These assumptions can be based on the individual actions, beliefs, and intentions that each party brings to the teaching and learning environment. By learning more about the actions, beliefs, and intentions that we, as educators, bring to the teaching and learning environment, we can learn how to teach more effectively and how to achieve specific teaching objectives. The actions, beliefs, and intentions that athletic training educators bring to the teaching environment constitute what Pratt3 calls a “teaching perspective.” It can be useful for athletic training educators to find their dominant teaching perspective because there are a number of specific teaching activities and strategies that work well from each perspective. The purpose of this column is to illustrate how athletic training educators can identify their dominant teaching perspective, and employ effective teaching strategies that are appropriate for their teaching goals using the Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI).