An Overview. It's likely that this course will require you to use different skill sets than you have used for other courses. Many undergraduate classes primarily test a student's ability to store and recall facts and information; so "good memory = good grade". This seminar focuses on critical thinking skills. So your perspective on preparing for this class might take the orientation of analyzing and interpreting information and applying it to the cases we will be studying. Click here for more information on critical thinking.

The ASHA Code of Ethics. The primary focus of the seminar is to become better professionals by learning to identify ethical issues in the field of speech-language pathology. A core ingredient of that task will be learning the principles and rules which comprise our professional code of ethics. One difficulty students sometimes encounter relates to their limited experience in many aspects of the profession. As a consequence, it can be more difficult to understand how the rules of ethics might be applied to situations speech-language pathologists encounter. To assist you, an annotated version of the Code of Ethics is presented which attempts to provide additional explanations and examples of how the rules of ethics 'play out' in the practice of the profession. This is intended to be a bridge to your understanding of how our Code of Ethics is applied.

Structure. We will be working with a decision-making structure designed to guide your critical thinking in evaluating case studies. When you are asked to evaluate a case study, you will want to use this structure and explain your interpretation of the case in each stage outlined. The decision structure is offered as a starting point from which you may later make your own changes and modifications throughout your career and as you gain clinical experience. However, for the seminar, you will be best served by sticking with the one provided.

The Seminar Format. A seminar can be somewhat 'free flowing', and sometimes wonders away from the intended core topic, as discussions often do. Unlike a lecture format, the presentation style in a seminar involves a high degree of student participation. Through these discussions, important points and interesting questions often result when opportunities present themselves. Student participation entails active learning, which I believe is a much more powerful approach to teaching.

In fact, the Learning Pyramid (below) was developed from research on student learning in the classroom. You'll notice that the retention rate for information presented in class varies with the instruction format of the class. Comparing "Lecture" with "Discussion Group", I hope you'll understand my rationale what I'm trying to accomplish.

There are always some students who don't like to talk or be called upon in class. While I can personally empathize with that perspective, its not the real world. You will be expected to present yourself and your ideas well on your externships and in your job. In some small ways, this is practice toward developing those skills.

Reading the learning objectives in advance of a class and listening to the podcasts after class may additionally help you understand the course material. Not all readings assigned for the class will be discussed in class; however I welcome your questions about the readings at any appropriate time.

Case Studies. The second half of the seminar will focus on learning through case studies. You will be getting practice evaluating case studies together during class. There are then six additional case studies in the group presentations.

Learning through case studies involves not only finding the right answer but finding the right question too. You will be given case scenarios and then need to identify the ethical issues embedded in it; you will be asked to resolve the issues identified. Its not just being able to decide the right thing do, its knowing what actions and behaviors to look at! The structure provided to guide your decision-making for the case studies is intended to guide you though the process.

Learning Objectives. Each class session has specific learning objectives -- things that I want you to get from the class session. The objectives for each class can be accessed from the 'Schedule' menu link. The objectives are designed to alert you to the important topics of discussion and what is intended that you know.

Post-Tests. Taking the post-tests is voluntary. Post-tests are available as another means of assuring that you are getting the information intended from each class session; a way of double-checking that you keyed in on the information I feel is relevant from the class -- both the in-class discussions and all other assignments.

Class Casts. Another resource for this seminar are podcasts. They 10-15 minute long auditory program files, designed to review and highlight the information from class, often presenting it in different words. A listing of the Class Casts is linked here. You can download the podcasts onto your iPod or listen to them on your computer or the computers in the Resource Room. Unfortunately, the University computer system does not yet enable streaming directly from the server. You are permitted to copy the files onto your computer for your use.

The Learning Objectives, Post-tests, and Class casts, taken together, comprise a study guide for the seminar.

Learning from the Experience of Others. In past years when asked to evaluate case scenarios, some students responded to the questions largely by quoting from class materials verbatim. Needless to say, this requires very little critical thinking, and "copying" information from the book or class materials usually only serves to highlight a student's unwillingness or inability to think through the questions. I'm looking for you to show me your thinking, because the process is sometimes as important as the final answer.

The Textbook. This is the fourth year I've used this textbook. It was written for health care professionals, not just for SLPs. To date, I haven't found a better book written on the subject. The text contains much of the fundamentals and underlying principles for the course. I like the level at which the material is written. In addition to the textbook, you'll find plenty of supplemental material available on this web site.

Extra Credit and Study Guides. At the graduate level, I don't believe in extra credit. The requirements should be pretty clearly spelled out for you, and I'm interested to see how well you can master the information and skills specifically intended to be included in the seminar. Relatedly, higher level learning involves determining what is important and how to manage your resources to succeed. From another perspective, if it wasn't important, we wouldn't be spending time on it! Remember, life doesn't come with a study guide.

© Rentschler, 2009