HOW HAS THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK IMPACTED ON THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF STAKEHOLDERS AT A PHYSIOTHERAPY SCHOOL IN SIERRA LEONE?

¹University of Leeds, School of Medicine, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic caused education to move online rapidly across the globe, including the Physiotherapy School in Sierra Leone, a low-income country with four Physiotherapists trained to BSc level. This experience of pure online learning gives us the opportunity to learn lessons that we can use to inform the ongoing use of blended learning at the school, and how to better support the development this in this setting.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to explore how staff and students experienced the sudden move to online learning necessitated by the pandemic to help to inform the future use of blended learning at the school.

Methods: A case study approach was used looking at the experience of online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic between April 2020 and August 2020 of the students and lecturers based at the Physiotherapy School in Sierra Leone who experienced this online teaching. Semi-structured interviews were performed with five students and five lecturers (three local and two international) and a student survey were used to collect data. The Braun and Clarke framework was then used to analyse the data.

Results: Both students and lecturers found the move online positive especially in terms of learning new skills, access to overseas lecturers and the ability to record lectures. Barriers such as lack of electricity, technical issues, lack of devices and distractions at home, as well as ability to understand overseas lecturers were highlighted. Feedback on how to improve online learning included use of an online platform, as well as the need to remove the above highlighted barriers. The use of online learning for all subjects in Physiotherapy education was questioned and needs to be considered.

Conclusions: The main areas that need to be addressed for blended learning to be successful are infrastructure improvement, such as improved internet and access to devices, human factor consideration, such as careful selection of overseas lecturers and the training of students and lecturers in online teaching and learning. Reflections on the practicalities of using blended learning for physiotherapy education are needed with careful planning of the curriculum to ensure the development of both theory and practical knowledge. Further research is needed in other Physiotherapy Schools in similar contexts, as well further research on the lecturers’ and students with hearing impairments experiences, which is often missing in the data.

Implications: This research shows the experience of online Physiotherapy education in a low-income country, giving a new perspective as most research has been in low-middle income countries which may not have all the issues faced as this environment. This means that the conclusions drawn from this study could reflect the needs of other Physiotherapy institutions in low-income settings. This information will help supporters of the Physiotherapy School in Sierra Leone and similar settings, as well as global bodies, such as World Physiotherapy to better know how to support the lecturers and students in these settings in the development and ongoing use of blended learning.

Funding acknowledgements: The Research was self-funded as part of my Masters in Clinical Education

Keywords:
Blended Learning
Covid-19
Physiotherapy Education

Topics:
Education: methods of teaching & learning

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of Leeds

Committee: School of Medicine Ethics Committee

Ethics number: MREC 20-061