A new experience of online education under the COVID-19 pandemic for occupational therapy students in Palestine

Abstract

There are circumstances and conditions that stimulate thinking and research in a scientific and practical way. These conditions fit into our reality under the COVID-19 pandemic. This experience related to myself and my field of work as an instructor of occupational therapy at the Arab American University in Palestine. There are students that I teach that have not been accustomed to distance learning through online courses using social media, especially zoom. This unfamiliar situation provided an opportunity for my students and myself to re-think the cases we deal with and the methods that we typically use, especially those people with spinal cord injuries. Here, I started creating an educational unit for students, in order to answer the questions posed by students. How can we provide an occupational therapy service under quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic? In what ways are patients suffering in the same way that we are suffering from the coronavirus pandemic? How can I adapt my teaching strategies methods to achieve the goals that I previously set for my students’ education before the pandemic?