DPT Hybrid students practice hands-on skills under the guidance of alumna and Program Director Kim Nixon-Cave during one of two spring immersions in Pittsburgh.
Twice every semester, Kim Nixon-Cave leaves her home in Voorhees, New Jersey, and heads to Philadelphia International Airport for the hour-long flight to Pittsburgh. Her mind is racing faster than the plane itself. She’s anticipating the six to 10 days ahead of her.
There are rooms to set up, faculty to consult with, activities to coordinate, and most importantly, approximately 90 students from all over the country to meet, greet and teach.
As professor and program director for the hybrid option of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, Nixon-Cave is both commander-in-chief and artistic director of a unique component of the hybrid students’ experience—the immersion.
Her energy is palpable.
“Every time we have an immersion, I say it’s like a Broadway show,” explains Nixon-Cave. “You bring in all the equipment, you stage it and then the play runs for maybe a 10-day stretch. When it’s over, you take out all the equipment, pack it up and move on to the next city—or in our case—the next immersion.”
During immersion, hybrid students come to Pittsburgh to get intensive, hands-on training that supports the rigorous didactic content that they have already learned remotely in both asynchronous and synchronous formats.
“The opportunity to offer this excellent program is exciting,” notes Nixon-Cave. “It allows students who might not have otherwise been able to come to Pitt to receive an excellent physical therapy (PT) education.”
Hybrid students are held to the same high standards as residential students and follow the same curriculum. Only the delivery method is different.
READY.
Early in March, 92 students from around the country came together for the second immersion of the spring semester. They are members of the second cohort of DPT Hybrid students.
SET.
Forty-nine treatment tables were set up at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to give students the chance to practice hands-on skills.
IMMERSE!
The number of hours hybrid students spend in immersion labs equals the same number of hours residential students spend in labs over the course of each semester.
“The diversity of our students is amazing!” Nixon-Cave continues. “Not only do we have students who are racially and geographically diverse, we have students who come from the military and others who are starting a second career. Some students have families, and some come straight out of undergraduate programs.”
“Our goal for the hybrid option was to make the DPT program more affordable and accessible without adversely affecting the educational outcomes for which our program has long been known,” states Chair and Department of Physical Therapy Professor James Irrgang.
"The hybrid program is good from a financial aspect. It allows people to stay within their hometowns. It’s especially good for people who live in communities that don’t have a lot of resources or access to physical therapy clinics."
—Shakari Cunningham (DPT ’23) Kankakee, Illinois
“We wanted to expand the footprint of our current program to better include students from underrepresented populations and those who could not easily relocate to Pittsburgh for training,” adds SHRS Dean and Physical Therapy Professor Anthony Delitto. “We also wanted it to support students who may want to stay where they are and practice physical therapy after graduation.”
While developing the hybrid program, the Physical Therapy Department embarked on a process to reduce tuition for both hybrid and residential students by shortening the DPT program from nine terms over three years to seven terms over a little more than two years.
"I studied PT in Mexico many years ago. When I came to the U.S., I didn’t speak English so I needed to learn English before I could apply to PT school again. I chose Pitt because I have my schedule as a wife and mother of four. This hybrid program gives me that flexibility to work on everything."
—Elena Luna Espinoza (DPT ’24) Fort Worth, Texas
According to Irrgang, this change resulted in a savings of approximately $25,000 for in-state students and approximately $40,000 for out-of-state students.
With Challenges Come Opportunities
To ensure hybrid students meet the required number of clinical education hours, the DPT team forged new partnerships and contracts with sites all over the country. “A challenge to this process is that each year a new cohort of students enters the program,” says David Wert, Department of Physical Therapy vice chair and associate professor.
"I already know some of the clinical sites that I’ve been assigned to. As an athletic trainer, I’ve worked with them before and know some of the physical therapists. And so being able to help out the community in a different aspect is great. I enjoy the fact that Pitt is preparing us well and wants us to stay here and help our own community."
—Robert Prince (DPT ’24) Tucson, Arizona
“Many hybrid students reside in regions of the country where we may not have existing clinical partners, so we must identify and vet new clinical sites with each new cohort. In spite of this, our team has had no problems placing students in every required clinical education experience,” continues Wert.
“To date, we have amassed a total of more than 600 possible clinical sites in which to place our residential and hybrid students, and the number is growing each year,” says Wert.
“Maintaining the hybrid program is demanding because it is constantly evolving,” continues Nixon-Cave. “While it allows for increased diversity, we must support these students in every way we can.”
She says the first way is through exceptional teaching. “This is not pandemic teaching. It is purposefully designed for student engagement, both online and in-person.”
Faculty who are highly experienced in online teaching were recruited from all over the United States to join existing program faculty, creating an impressive team of educators.
“I discovered that the hybrid model really improves my teaching,” Nixon-Cave continues. “It forces me to think hard about what, how and why I’m delivering the content of that day’s lesson.”
Nixon-Cave explains that in the hybrid world, you need to chunk your lectures into 10- or 15-minute segments.
“There are no interruptions or distractions in the asynchronous recordings like you typically find in a face to-face classroom lecture,” says Nixon-Cave. “You deliver succinct and meaningful information that prepares the students for participation in the synchronous sessions where they discuss and apply the information they have learned during their asynchronous work.”
Physical Therapy Professor Michael Lebec says he spends approximately three times longer to prepare his synchronous and asynchronous lessons than those he teaches in-person. He keeps students engaged by creating coursework that includes a variety of types of learning activities. “By changing up the format frequently in each lesson or class session, students are less likely to tune out,” notes Lebec.
He uses a polling application that allows students to respond anonymously to questions during synchronous learning sessions. “It’s one way they can test their knowledge or use learned information to solve a patient problem that we are discussing as a group,” he continues.
Nixon-Cave and DPT Hybrid students at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center during the spring immersion
Associate Professor Kara Kobal notes there are differences in teaching remotely. “The biggest challenge was rethinking traditional PT education to provide flexibility for our hybrid students to learn effectively. It required me to learn more about best teaching and learning practices to create engaging, interactive lessons.”
To ensure continuous improvement, all faculty continually seek input from students to further refine and improve teaching efforts and improve the overall student experience.
Behind the Scenes
How can students master the hands-on skills of physical therapy at home? It takes unconventional thinking coupled with meticulous planning and untiring collaboration.
“None of this would be possible without the extensive support of SHRS’ Office of Online Learning (OOL),” points out Nixon-Cave. “We in the PT Department bring the content, but they bring the expertise.”
“The Office of Online Learning knows best practices for successful online teaching and learning.”
Watch our video on how DPT students do Hybrid at Home:
“As the No. 1 ranked residential program in the country, it was critical to undergird the course development with research-based instructional design principles and benchmarks of quality drawn from leading organizations such as Quality Matters and the Online Learning Consortium,” explains Rae Mancilla, assistant director of Online Learning.
Utilizing a one-to-one design model, the OOL pairs a faculty member with an instructional designer throughout the entire course development process. This model fosters the three main types of interaction necessary for student success: student-faculty, student-student and student-content.
"I have two kids, so they’re usually in the background when I make a video for class. Their dad is really hands-on and doesn’t mind me demonstrating my skills on him and recording since that’s a main requirement for various classes. It’s easy doing it at home. We mimic what we see from the videos that are online, so it’s pretty good."
—Sandra Inmon (DPT ’24) Little Rock, Arkansas
Among other things, instructional designers help faculty create a variety of interactive activities.
“In Anatomy class, there’s a really cool app that shows everything in detail,” notes DPT Hybrid student Georgiana Voiebuna (DPT ’23) from Ashburn, Virginia. “You can move the mouse and see every side of the body. When we came into the immersion, we got to go to the cadaver lab. I could actually feel the muscles and I was able to put two and two together. We were very well prepared virtually.”
“This infrastructure—this support—is really unique to Pitt and is what makes the DPT Hybrid program so successful,” adds Nixon-Cave
According to Reilly Reed (DPT ’23) from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the rapport between students and faculty is outstanding. “It’s pretty unique that we have not only the best professors in Pittsburgh and in Pennsylvania, but throughout the entire country. They’ve been so helpful and encouraging and just are always there for you. They want you to do well.”
Fellow student Gabrielle Hofilena (DPT ’23) of Livingston, New Jersey, agrees. “I like that our advisors reach out and touch base with us. They ask, ‘How are you doing?’ and ‘How can I help?’ and ‘What can I do to facilitate your learning in this environment?’ It’s been really helpful to have that constant lifeline.”
As technology issues arise throughout the semester, students maintain access to a 24/7 technical support desk, where they can interact with a representative via live chat, telephone or email ticketing.
Residential and hybrid students came together on campus to take the Professional Pledge
Building a Community of Learners
“The online activities and interactive learning tools not only give students the opportunity to engage with curriculum content—it encourages them to get to know each other and build a strong community of learners,” says Nixon-Cave.
“We work hard to develop camaraderie with our hybrid students prior to immersion, but there is nothing like seeing them in person,” adds Kobal. “There is excitement from both faculty and students.”
DPT Hybrid student Tere Lyn Jones (DPT ’24) from Atlanta, Georgia, says, “The immersion helps you just puzzle everything together, not just the academics, but the skills, too. At home we had the videos and we would practice with our family or friends. But once you come here, you notice that a lot of your colleagues are going through the same thing. As we began to practice our skills, we’re able to say to each other, ‘Oh well, don’t forget, you might want to stabilize the arm here.’ Or, ‘What about…’ We’re able to converse more about things that we’ve learned.”
“What surprised me most was the commitment from students to support and encourage each other during each immersion session. As an instructor, I like seeing students cheering for each other and encouraging each other as their names are called for their individual hands-on exams,” continues Kobal.
There are many opportunities for students to learn from each other.
“I really look forward to the networking,” comments hybrid student Tatum O’Brien (DPT ’23) of Pittsburgh. “It’s great to make connections with people from all over the country. It opens up opportunities for learning new things, for research, for seeing what clinical practice is like in different states—even jobs for the future.”
There are also opportunities for hybrid and residential students to interact with each other, especially during immersions.
Second-year residential student Mae Cody (DPT ’23) from Glencoe, Illinois, says her class worked with the leadership of the first-year hybrid class to put together a memorial service for the donors in the cadaver lab in the fall semester. “It was a really meaningful event for us to thank the people who gave their bodies for us to learn,” explains Cody. “It was also a chance for us to get to know our hybrid classmates early on in their program.”
Cody says she has a few close friends from Pittsburgh in the hybrid program and constantly compares notes with them about classes and exams. “My hybrid classmates are absolutely brilliant,” she continues. “Only time will tell how the legacy of Pitt PT will continue to be shaped as we move forward!”
“We really are forging the way,” says Nixon-Cave. “There’s been a real interest in our program from other universities across the country. They ask how we developed our curriculum and what challenges we faced as they look to develop their own hybrid programs.”
“At Pitt, we have the reputation and the resources and the support to do an exceptional job,” Nixon-Cave continues. “And that is exactly what we are doing.”
-----
Originally published in the Spring/Summer 2023 FACETS.
Republished July 26, 2023
Updated August 1, 2023
Updated March 7, 2024