CATALOG - University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences

FLEXIBLE DOCTOR OF PHYSICAL THERAPY (DPT)The University of St. Augustine offers a part-time program for working adults seeking to earn the Doctorof Physical Therapy degree referred to as the Flex Program. This program is a combined distanceeducation and residency first professional Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program designed for thestudent who needs flexibly. By substituting asynchronous online education for most standard classroomparticipation and holding weekend labs on campus, an individual can earn a Doctor of Physical Therapydegree in 12 trimesters (4 years).The model represents an expansion of the full-time, entry-level DPT Program currently in place at theUniversity of St. Augustine (USA). The same mission and curriculum used in the full-time Program isutilized in the Flex Program with the only differences being a reduction in the number of credits taken perterm and the delivery format. The Flex Program pre-requisites, admission requirements, academiccalendar, total tuition, and policies are the same as the on-campus program. Students in the Flex programcomplete 3 full-time clinical internships that are seven to eight weeks in length in the second half of theprogram. This portion of the curriculum will require full-time attendance by the Flex DPT student.There are two cohort groups of students admitted per year, starting in September and January with amaximum of 30 students per group and a minimum of 8 students. If the number of Flex cohort studentsdrops below 8, the university reserves the right to hold the cohort group back a trimester to combine withthe following group.More than 50% of the coursework is delivered on-line to the student. The online courses consist of webbasedtext with extensive graphics, videos, and audio clips. There are opportunities provided for facultyto-studentand student-to-student synchronous and asynchronous interactive collaboration. Assessment ofonline learning outcomes includes a wide variety of evaluation tools depending on the course objectivessuch as: 1) regular quizzes completed online; 2) graded bulletin board assignments; 3) case reports; 4)group projects; 5) research paper; and 6) article critiques.In courses with a lab component, students come together on campus for 16 hours of laboratory classes perweekend for no more than 8 weekends a trimester. The lab sessions provide an avenue for teachingactivities not well suited for online delivery such as the hands-on learning that is vital to physical therapyeducation, in addition to oral presentations, proctored written examinations, lab practical testing, andsocialization activities. Currently these lab activities are located in St. Augustine, Florida and SanMarcos, California.47