Physical therapy student David Block appreciates the blended learning he receives from NYIT instructor Rosemary Gallagher, D.P.T. “It makes you take hold of your own education,” he says.

Six faculty members from the School of Health Professions also worked on creating blended courses for nursing, physician assistant studies, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

“Outcomes of blended courses demonstrate a higher degree of engagement by the student,” says Dean Patricia Chute, Ph.D. “You certainly cannot sit in the back of a classroom and answer your email.” Blended courses, she adds, often incorporate many aspects of the Internet to ensure that the student knows how to access information and become a lifelong learner.

Instructor Lisa Sparacino’s nursing fundamentals course will debut in the spring, complete with video tutorials, discussion boards, helpful links for students, and mandatory online participation.

“It’s going to result in nurses who are more prepared to work in today’s health care,” says Sparacino, noting the field’s movement toward electronic medical records and other technological tools. “They need to be comfortable using multiple venues of technology. This makes them more marketable.”

David Block, a second-year physical therapy student, appreciated the blended and flipped classroom approach of instructor Rosemary Gallagher, D.P.T., who asked students to prepare for class by reading, reviewing materials on Blackboard, and watching videos.

“It makes you take hold of your own education,” says Block. “If you want to be an active learner—or a good physical therapist—you have to do the pre-work.”

In a class last year, Gallagher reduced the number of PowerPoint slides for lessons on traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis. She recorded them using Camtasia software and broke up lengthy lectures with activities and questions. This fall, in an introductory course for first-year students, she recorded a segment that led students through a physical therapy guidebook. With Jing, a screencasting program, she made personal videos for each student to give them feedback on their assignments. With those resources online, her classroom became the setting for case studies, collaborative group discussions, and hands-on preparation for clinical care.

“When you front-load the class, they come in with knowledge,” she says.

“Then we can dive into it deeper.”

Block says he benefited from group work in Gallagher’s classes.

“If you don’t get a concept, maybe other people in your group do,” he says. “You get lots of tools to put in your toolbox.”

Gallagher conducts frequent surveys of her class, asking for feedback about teaching methods and student engagement.

“I say to the students: ‘We’re partners in this. I’m helping you discover things but you are also teaching me things.’ ”

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