Learning to prescribe and instruct exercise in physiotherapy education through authentic continuous assessment and rubrics
Open accessAbstract
Background: Authentic assessment and effective feedback are among various strategies that promote learning in the assessment process. These strategies are commonly used during clinical placements. However, they are rarely implemented in the didactic portion of physiotherapy education despite the benefits this type of assessment may bring to achieving students’ learning and outcome. Methods: This mixed method study investigated how an authentic continuous assessment coupled with rubrics facilitated physiotherapy students’ learning process in a real-life complex skill of exercise prescription and instruction. The study also explored the relationship between different activities in the Learning Management System (LMS) and learning outcomes. Qualitative data was collected using a focus group and an analysis of discussion forum posts. Quantitative data included various information from a questionnaire, the LMS and assessment score. Results: Thematic analyses from the focus group and discussion forum posts suggest that students used a cyclical self-regulated learning process as a result of authentic task design and rubrics for feedback facilitation. Interestingly, the discussion forum access was found to be moderately and significantly correlated with assessment score by Spearman’s rank correlation (ρ = 0.59, p < 0.01), while the students did not find the discussion forum useful. Conclusions: Overall results suggest the promotion of self-regulated learning in this authentic continuous assessment. The roles and goals of each authentic task within the assessment should be made explicit in order to raise cognitive awareness of benefits.
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Continuous assessment methods like structured observations during rotations provide opportunities for real-time feedback and immediate skill refinement.
“Similarly, continuous assessment methods like structured observations during rotations provide opportunities for real-time feedback and immediate skill refinement, ensuring that students are consistently developing and applying their competencies in practical settings [40,41].”
From Formative assessment and feedback in medical education: A practical guide: AMEE Guide No. 189 (2026) · cites this paper as [40]
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- Authors
- Chong, D. Y. K., Tam, B., Yau, S. Y., & Wong, A. Y. L.
- Affiliations
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Corresponding author
- Chong, Doris Yin Kei
- Venue
- BMC Medical Education
- Published
- 2020-08-08
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 258-258
- ISSN
- 1472-6920 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7414576
- OpenAlex
- W3047776720
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 4.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Medical Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- PolyU Institutional Research Archive (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (LTG16-19/SS/RS2)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Student Assessment and Feedback
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Musculoskeletal Disorders and Rehabilitation
- Keywords
- physiotherapy education, exercise prescription, exercise recommendations, authentic assessment, continuous assessment, rubrics, feedback, student self-regulation, virtual learning environments, forum, assessment scores, didactic teaching
- MeSH terms
- Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate, Humans, Learning, Students, Nursing, Nursing Education Research, Physical Therapy Modalities
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