Effectiveness of guided self-study in bachelor physiotherapy students

Frontal teaching plays a predominant role in higher education. Bologna process described for higher education settings that teaching/education should occur by frontal teaching or seminars and by self-study. Arnold (2011) postulated in this case, that higher education should change from lecture hall to learning workshop. The learning method guided self-study is one of fundamental importance. Teaching-learning research described that learning success or sustainability exists if students has the opportunity for active constructive, self-directed, and relevant learning (Arnold, 2017). Teaching should implement active-self-development of competencies and the cooperative learning experience through appropriate arrangements. The learning methods guided self-study must be considered for physiotherapy bachelor’s degree program. In Switzerland, a restructuring of physiotherapy education into higher education level was taken placed in 2006 (Rogan, 2015). The consequence of the change from secondary level to tertiary level was, that many practical teaching units were deleted due to the bologna reform. The teaching lesson was formerly increasingly marked as frontal teaching and practical teaching. Today the students are increasingly responsible for their learning process. To support the learning process of physiotherapy bachelor’s degree students, the guided self-study can be used. However, up to date there is a lack of evidence about the effectiveness of accompanied self-study in competences of practical skills and clinical decision-making ability in physiotherapy bachelor’s degree students. Therefore, this project wants to gain new knowledge about guided self-study on learning success and to create a guideline for guided self-study for physiotherapy bachelor’s degree students. This PhD-thesis includes three main research questions: Are there differences in competences of practical skills between guided self-study students and autonomous self-study students? Which components are in guided self-study needed to activate learning processes in undergraduate physiotherapy students? Are there differences in competences in clinical decision-making ability between guided self-study students and autonomous self-study students?