SPA 651: Dysphagia, Trachs, and Vents
Multi-level hierarchical problem solving skills are critical for graduate students' successful transition into the workplace. However, graduate students struggle with these skills, particularly as they are confronted with clinical case studies that are not "textbook" in nature. Dr. Scarborough hopes to use case studies in a manner that would teach a critical thinking process that would increase students' success, thus improving their ability to help a variety of clients.

Using reference materials obtained from the ACT workshop, Dr. Scarborough created a rubric that was specifically designed for graduate students and the steps involved with clinical case studies. Data was collected from Quiz 1, Quiz 2, and the Final Exam. Questions were coded per each "critical thinking level" and rough calculations were completed for each student. Although 11 critical thinking levels were identified as crucial for the profession, data was collected only for the following 6 aspects: 1) identifying the problem, 2) identifying relevant information, 3) qualitative interpretation of evidence, 4) meaningfully organizing information, 5) complete analysis, and 6) prioritizing factors. Because she collected data on multiple quizzes and exams, Dr. Scarborough was able to track students' critical thinking development as they progressed through the course.

As a result of the ACT project, Dr. Scarborough will be speaking at the SPA graduate school orientation on the topic of critical thinking skills and the growth that is expected throughout the two year program. She has also been asked to discuss at their Fall 2008 faculty retreat a mechanism for implementing a similar critical thinking rubric across all of their graduate courses. For next year's course, Dr. Scarborough will modify the rubric to more closely correlate with the standards implemented by SPA's national governing body to determine if she can more closely track critical thinking skills in an objective manner. Input from the faculty retreat discussions will also help direct specific changes that can be made with the rubric.

Rubric