Using Audiotapes in Occupational Therapy Continuing Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evalute the use of audiotapes as an alternate method for continuing education. Thirty randomly selected practicing occupational therapists were randomly assigned to either a control group, which did not listen to the audiotape, or to an experimental group, which listened to the audiotape. Analysis of variance revealed that the audiotape group scored significantly higher than the control group (p < .01) on a specially constructed achievement test. Responses to a questionnaire by participants in the audiotape group revealed that they felt that the audiotape method was convenient and that the study guide was useful. Significant negative correlations were found between test scores and the number of years a participant had practiced and between test scores and perceived difficulty in locating a particular section on the tape. Suggestions for improving future audiotape courses are discussed.

Keywords

professional development instructional media independent study

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