Abstract:

Background:
After practical lessons, Physiotherapy students need support to develop manual skills.
(1) When the contents are complex and different from previous courses, self-learning becomes a challenge. To overcome this, in the course Physiotherapy in Clinical Specialities IV at the University of Valencia, lecturers developed a series of rubrics and proved that students perceived them as a pedagogically effective learning tool
(2) Since rubrics provide indicators, criteria and evidences to accomplish competences, their level of information detail may affect students´ perception of the pedagogical profit.

Purpose:
To compare Physiotherapy students´ perception of the pedagogical profit of rubrics according to their level of information detail to develop complex manual skills.

Methods:
A survey type study was performed. A 10-item questionnaire about the completeness and wealth of information and motivating mechanisms of rubrics was used (2). A total of 158 Physiotherapy students were asked to indicate their level of agreement with each item on a 5-level Likert scale, for each of the 6 rubrics developed in the practical part of the subject. Then, rubrics were grouped into a detailed information rubric (DIR) group (n=3) or a general information rubric (GIR) group (n=3). For each group of rubrics, an average score of each item and an average general score were calculated and compared.

Results:
A between-group significant difference was found for the general score, indicating that students had a better perception of the pedagogical profit of the DIR group (4.37±0.52 vs 3.96±0.68, p<0.001). Likewise, there were significant between-group differences (p<0.001) in all of the items. On average, items of the DIR group were rated higher. Scores showed the largest differences in item 1. Sections of the rubric (0.48 points), which was one of the highest rated items in the DIR group; in item 3. Format of the rubric (0.46 points), which was one of the lowest rated items in the GIR group; and in item 9. It allows me to know what I am expected to do in the exam (0.43 points), which was one of the top 3 rated items in both groups.

Conclusions:
Physiotherapy students´ perception of the pedagogical profit of rubrics was different according to their level of information detail. To develop complex manual skills, detail-information rubrics were found to be a more useful tool, especially in regard to wealth of information and motivation.

References:
[1] Sole G., Bennett T., Jaques K., Rippon R. & Van Der Meer J. (2012-13). A Student Experience of Peer Assisted Study Sessions in Physiotherapy. Journal of Peer Learning 5, 42 – 51.
[2] Ruescas-Nicolau M.A., Sánchez-Sánchez M.L., Carrasco-Fernandez J.J., Perez-Alenda S., Ezzatvar-De-Llago Y. & Cezon-Serrano N. (2016). Physiotherapy students' perception of the pedagogical value of rubrics in developing manual skills. In: Gómez Chova L., López Martínez A. & Candel Torres I. (eds.). INTED2016. 10th International Technology, Education and Development Conference. Conference Proceedings (pp. 990-997). Valencia (Spain): IATED.

Keywords:

Rubrics, Physiotherapy, manual skills, pedagogical profit.