UBC Master of Rehabilitation Science Blog

An ability to read and think critically, create stimulating opportunities for learning, and a passion for learning are among the characteristics of effective teachers that Mary Clark possesses in spades.

I was thrilled to learn that Mary, the Associate Director of the Rehabilitation Science Online programs, and an online course instructor, was to be awarded one of only three University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine Clinical Faculty Awards for Excellence Teaching. The award was one of very few presented in person at the annual Faculty awards reception held at Sage Bistro at UBC on May 31.

Dr. Michael Nimmo, Director, Clinical Faculty Affairs Presents Award to Mary Clark

Mary began teaching courses in the Faculty of Medicine in 2006 when she designed and taught RHSC 581, ‘Writing to Enhance Practice’, an elective course in the online, UBC, Master of Rehabilitation Science program. Since then she has led the ongoing development of RHSC 581 and the Graduate Certificate course, RHSC 503, Reasoning and Decision-Making to ensure they remain current. Keeping up with the latest knowledge and research to inform course development and teaching is as important to Mary as contributing to knowledge development through research.

Rehabilitation Science online learners recognize well how Mary’s facilitation style in discussions and feedback on assignments helps them to apply their new knowledge to practice, and contributes positively to their learning experience. As one learner said, “she went above and beyond any expectations I had of a prof – and that made me feel that my learning was important to the whole university faculty, not just myself – or her.”

We are very fortunate to have Mary as a member of the Online Programs’ administrative and teaching team.

Please join us in congratulating Mary on this important award.

Sue Stanton, Director, Rehabilitation Science Online Programs

Although good news for some and not so good for others, we appreciate the understanding of those who have, or are about to write the examination.

In early July emails were sent to all current learners advising them that the Comprehensive Examination will no longer be a requirement for the UBC Master of Rehabilitation Science (MRSc) degree. Although effective immediately, Master of Rehabilitation Science learners who have completed all five, core courses prior to August 30, 2010 and started the MRSc program prior to September 1, 2009 are still required to write the examination.

When the degree was reviewed prior to approval in 2004 an examination was believed to be necessary to test learners’ ability to synthesize knowledge and skills from the five core courses before carrying out their major project research. While core course synthesis is still necessary, synthesis will be promoted and further tested throughout the five courses instead of the comprehensive examination.

It was with careful thought that we chose the cut-off as described above, feel free to contact me if you have any questions. [sue.stanton@ubc.ca]

Thursday, November 26 marks the day we honour our November 2009 Master of Rehabilitation Science graduates. If you did not receive your invitation and would like to attend please email lois.nightingale@ubc.ca by November 13.

The graduates and their research topics are:

Kathy Davidson: Early Intervention Physical Therapists and Occupational Therapists in British Columbia: What is a Manageable Caseload Size?

Kathy Hatchard: Self-Directing Return to Mainstream Work Following Acute Mental Illness: Educational Needs and Strategies

Karen Hurbutise: Parents’ Experiences in Role Negotiation in the Family Centred Model of the Infant Services Program at the Alberta Children’s Hospital

Twila Mills: Implementing Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) [Phase I]: Exploring Experiences of Community Therapists in Implementing GAS and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in a Mental Health Day Program.

Darlene Russell: Patients’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Performance-Based Occupational Therapy Programs

Ellie Wray: Cultural Competence in Occupational Therapists Working in Early Intervention Therapy Programs

These graduates facilitated enriching online discussions of their completed major project research in September. It was exciting to participate in these presentations with these fall graduates, their research supervisors and agency sponsors. Whether they were talking about the influence of their workplace research on their practice, sharing ideas from their research participants, or exploring data analysis and research design pros and cons, their online discussions were full of enthusiasm for research, their experiences and the many ideas for future research that emerged. Collaborative, supportive and engaged were all fitting descriptors!

Full abstracts of this research will be posted by the end of November in our growing ‘abstracts’ library on the program website.

We are currently conducting a study to evaluate the effectiveness the current model of providing distance supervision for the major projects and develop a confidential approach for obtaining learners’, supervisors’ and sponsors’ feedback on their major project experience.

Sue