Undergraduate Occupational Therapy Students’ Experiences in Online Distance Learning for Skilled-Based Subjects During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Descriptive Phenomenology Study

• Published in: Proceedings of International Conference on Research in Education and Science
• Main Author: Zabidi N.S.M.; Ibrahim S.S.; Baharudin N.S.; Daud A.Z.C.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: The International Society for Technology Education and Science 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85184335274&partnerID=40&md5=931a9933f17cd75d0394097a1e382432

COVID-19 hugely impacted the students’ learning, in which experiential learning was not allowed to be implemented to decelerate the spread of the virus. Thus, educators used whatever capacities and abilities they had to ensure that the students learned the skills, especially for certain skill-based occupational therapy subjects. However, studies regarding occupational therapy students’ viewpoint of their real-life experiences in learning skill-based subjects via online distance learning were lacking in number. Therefore, a descriptive phenomenological study was used to describe occupational therapy students’ personal experiences in studying skill-based subjects via online distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten undergraduate occupational therapy students were interviewed, ranging from 45 to 60 minutes on their experiences in learning skill-based subjects via online distance learning. The essence of the student’s experiences was described in four main themes: (i) the impacts of COVID-19, (ii) adapting to the COVID-19 outbreak, (iii) the downside and upside of learning skill-based subjects via online distance learning and (iv) perceived supports. Even though they struggled to learn the skill-based subjects without hands-on face-to-face sessions, occupational therapy students felt that few strategies effectively enhanced their learning experiences during the period. This study concludes that occupational therapy students formed impactful memories and described their struggles with online distance learning since the sudden transition to ODL during the pandemic. Thus, the experiences highlight a few learning strategies educators can adopt when it comes to skill-based occupational therapy subjects. © 2023 Published by the ISTES Organization