Curriculum

The curriculum for the OTA to MOT Bridge Track is designed to acknowledge your education and experience as a credentialed occupational therapy assistant. The focus of the coursework is to equip you with the added knowledge and skills needed for entry-level competence as a masters prepared occupational therapist.

The educational focus of the MOT curriculum is mirrored in our Department of Occupational Therapy mission statement, which in turn reflects the mission of Radford University:  To create a community of innovative and ethical practitioners who serve and advocate for the health and participation of diverse populations and communities both locally and globally. Thus, the MOT curriculum aims to contribute to the development of healthy communities and populations by preparing students to become master’s level professionals who: 

• understand the power of occupation to rebuild lives;  
• practice competently and ethically in both traditional and innovative service settings;  
• engage in lifelong reflection and learning to continuously improve the services they provide; and  
• assume leadership roles in health-care facilities and communities in our region, nation, and the world. 

The MOT curriculum incorporates five threads throughout the coursework, and each thread is addressed with increasing complexity as students move through the curricular sequence. A curricular thread is a key area of learning that supports the RU Department of Occupational Therapy values that are believed to be most crucial to developing collaborative, innovative, reflective entry-level practitioners who are client- and occupation-centered, and evidence informed. 

1. Humans are occupational beings that influence their health and well-being through participation in meaningful daily life activities. Understanding the human body and mind is a basis for understanding this concept.  
2. Personal and professional identity development is at the center of becoming an ethical and effective occupational therapy practitioner that delivers client-centered and occupation-based services.  
3. Inclusive participation for diverse recipients of OT services is sought across the range of traditional and non-traditional practice settings and across the globe. 
4. Evidence-informed critical thinking is a basis for professional reasoning that engages deep analysis for problem identification and idea generation related to occupational participation, leading to solutions for clients, communities, and populations that are innovative and creative. 
5. Taking ownership of learning and self-discovery is a path to becoming lifelong change agents, leaders, and contributors to the occupational therapy knowledge base.  

In addition to five curricular threads, the MOT curriculum is grounded in two philosophical tenets: active learning and service to the community. 

Active learning: students are given continuous hands-on opportunities during face-to-face instruction on the weekends to engage with MOT course content, for instance simulation and role-play; case-based problem-solving; and staged skill practice including with peers and faculty, standardized patients who are trained to depict problems with functioning, standardized patients who are brain injury survivors, and clients in real-world practice settings.  Active learning will be incorporated into online coursework through the use of videos, voice threads, discussion boards, and chat features.

Service to the community: students are engaged with clients and practitioners across courses, including faculty-led Level I fieldwork in community-based settings, researching evidence to answer clinical questions from OT practitioners in the community, and designing new programs that could benefit local communities where OT services do not currently meet population needs.