Occupational Therapy Curriculum Design
The study of human performance and participation in everyday occupations and contexts across the lifespan
This is the conceptual core of our O.T.D. and Ph.D. degree programs. This core stems directly from the department’s vision and mission, hence, our dedication to education, research, outreach, and engagement that meet real-world occupational needs.
Our curricular threads and outcomes are integral to the design of our OTD program. They support our philosophy that occupational therapy optimizes the ability of individuals, groups, communities, and populations to perform and participate in the activities that they need, want and are expected to do each day, thus enabling them to participate fully in society. Our threads are as follows:
- Occupation and OT Process: we emphasize a foundation in understanding occupation and it’s use in practice
- Professional and Therapeutic Collaboration: we inspire students to embrace the value of collaboration with clients and other professionals in optimizing the impact of their work
- Intentional Learning/Professional Contributor: we provide a foundation for students to become professionals that are themselves dynamic in their own learning and development
- Change and Learning Process: we instill in students an understanding that learning is dynamic for everyone
- Professional Reasoning: we guide students in the development of multiple forms of reasoning in and on practice
- OT Roles, Practice Contexts, and Client Populations: we emphasize that the OT role is applicable across practice settings, populations, and student’s own professional roles
Curriculum Design Curriculum Threads and OTD Student Outcomes
Occupational Therapy Doctorate Overall Outcomes
The CSU OTD will be collaborative and enduring change agents and leaders… grounded in the perspective of occupation… who positively influence individuals, groups, communities, populations and the profession.
Occupation and OT Process Definition and Outcomes
- CSU OTD students are proficient in collaborative occupational therapy services guided by clinical reasoning given a right understanding of occupation and its use in occupation-centered practice.
- Outcomes
- Conduct and justify contextually sensitive occupational therapy evaluations and interventions based upon theory, practice, models, and evidence across settings, populations, and roles.
- Champion occupation as a health-promoting factor
- Advocate for occupation-centered practice to the client constellation across settings, populations, and roles.
Professional and Therapeutic Collaboration Definition and Outcomes
- CSU OTD students engage in dynamic, goal-directed collaborations with the client constellation (individual, group, community) and other professionals to maximize occupational performance.
- Outcomes
- Use and justify enablement skills that support the client constellation in creating and realizing contextually sensitive occupation-centered outcomes.
- Recognize the need to shift approaches and implement changes (e.g. communication style, interpersonal modes) to maximize relationships across multiple professional contexts.
- Effectively work with (collaborate, communicate, sensitivity to diversity and inclusion) an interprofessional team while contributing an occupational perspective.
Intentional Learning/Professional Contributor Definition and Outcomes
- CSU OTD students are intentional learners and active members in the profession.
- Outcomes
- Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in one’s own approaches to learning in classroom, community, and practice contexts and create strategies that improve one’s effectiveness as an intentional learner.
- Create strategies and transfer knowledge from the classroom to occupation-centered, reflective, evidence-based practices and professional leadership.
- Actively advance the OT profession through awareness, advocacy, education, research, service, etc. as evidenced by regularly updated professional development plans.
Change and Learning Process Definition and Outcomes
- CSU OTD students understand and apply dynamic mechanisms known to foster change and learning that enables occupation individuals, organizations, and societies.
- Outcomes
- Analyze and synthesize ideas about change and learning embedded within contemporary occupational therapy and interdisciplinary theories.
- Demonstrate and justify how to assess and influence change and learning in occupation.
- Recognize and respond effectively to affective (emotional) dimensions of change and learning in self and other when implementing an occupation-centered program at individual, group, community, and populations.
Professional Reasoning Definition and Outcomes
- CSU OTD students integrate multiple types of reasoning, evidence-based knowledge and skills to plan, direct, perform, assess, modify, and reflect on occupational therapy practice and research.
- Outcomes
- Apply and justify multiple types of reasoning, published and practice-based evidence to prioritize occupational needs and solutions in a variety of case formats involving individuals, groups, and populations.
- Design, conduct, and disseminate research and scholarly activities that contribute to the body of knowledge of occupational therapy.
- Demonstrate a commitment to conscientious reasoning, evidence-based practice, and practice-based evidence as demonstrated by reflective writing and oral examination.
OT Roles, Practice Contexts, and Client Populations Definition and Outcomes
- CSU OTD students appreciate and analyze the impact that the practice setting, client population, and therapist roles have on occupational therapy and they use their analyses to improve occupation-centered practice.
- Outcomes
- Evaluate and appreciate similarities and differences in occupational therapy practice according to the transactions among setting, population, and roles (both currently and historically).
- Create new or improve upon existing occupation-centered practice by considering transactions among settings, populations, and roles.
Instructional Design
Our integrated curricular design is reflected in our instructional design. Teaching is grounded in learner-centered principles, with deliberately embedded active learning experiences throughout the curriculum to promote student growth and transformation. Learning outcomes capture student growth and learning across foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. Through this approach, students will gain new and needed knowledge and skills to become occupational therapy professionals, and advance their ways of knowing, and interaction with others.