Speech Language Pathology Brings Clinical Training to Classroom
A recording of our Virtual Patient (VP) male patient (top photo), and two SLP students working with their VP in a Zoom session.
In summer 2022, Fred DiCarlo, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, associate professor and director of academic and faculty support, started implementing a pilot assignment, the Virtual Patient Education (VPE) activity in his course, SLP 6055, Dysphagia, in collaboration with Laura Lenkey, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, adjunct professor at Radford University in Virginia.
The VPE activity recently was implemented into all sections of SLP 6055. This course activity examines virtual intervention strategies and virtual platforms utilized to facilitate graduate student pedagogy, while the students engage with virtual patients.
For example, the students are assigned volunteer virtual patients, who previously had dysphagia. This provides the students with an opportunity to link theory to clinical practice. Course survey information completed by the students who took part in the VPE activity during the past three semesters indicated positive outcomes.
Posted 05/21/24