Six Benefits of Integrating TrueLearn and Picmonic into the Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) Curriculum

Physical therapist assistant (PTA) educators face multiple challenges in driving optimal course, program, and NPTE^®-PTA outcomes. Besides building foundational knowledge and strengthening knowledge application in clinical practice, educators must also ensure students sharpen their clinical judgment and decision-making skills. 

To achieve these goals, educators must be able to support efficient teaching and learning, track student progress, identify at-risk students early enough to tailor remediation, and course-correct education plans to meet curricular goals. Students also need to be guided on the most current NPTE^®-PTA format, which is updated every five years or so, with the most recent in January 2024 which included the introduction of video and scenario-based items.

What educators need is a resource that lets them implement active learning, led by data-driven insights—such as TrueLearn, paired with Picmonic. The integrated platforms deliver a proven solution that enhances students’ concept mastery and knowledge application in coursework and throughout the program.

Find out how integrating TrueLearn and Picmonic into the PTA curriculum and for NPTE^®-PTA exam prep leads to six benefits for students, faculty, and programs.

1. Sharpens Classroom Instruction

Both TrueLearn and Picmonic are effective teaching tools that integrate seamlessly into the curriculum to support active, engaged learning in the classroom. Covering content across multiple systems and topics tested on the NPTE^®-PTA, the paired solution allows educators to easily assign Picmonic’s mnemonic lessons as pre-lecture study material so that students come to class prepared and can be accelerated through more complex learning. Meanwhile, TrueLearn’s board-style quizzes can be used during lectures to engage students and assess their ability to apply knowledge, providing real-time feedback to faculty so misunderstandings can be corrected quickly or they can move on from mastered concepts. 

How this helps programs Augmenting teaching with both platforms identifies weak content areas and topics for the group of students in the class and by cohort, generating actionable data to help faculty sharpen classroom instruction, leading to improved course and program outcomes.

2. Pinpoints Weak Subject Areas

TrueLearn’s PTA SmartBank is aligned with the most current item types and NPTE^®-PTA content outline to offer a more comprehensive test-day experience. The performance data generated from integrating TrueLearn into the curriculum helps surface learning gaps of individual students and cohorts early to guide remediation and drive optimal program and exam outcomes. To address these and help expedite long-term memory retention and recall, TrueLearn allows faculty to create and assign quizzes from over 1,000 board-style questions, including video and scenario-based items, centered around weak subject areas. Picmonic also includes low-stakes quizzes, testing more than 4,000+ need-to-know facts to surface to faculty the topics that students are struggling with.

How this helps programs Aggregate data from both platforms provide real-time and longitudinal tracking necessary to support the identification of curricular gaps or redundancies, program evaluation, and track progress toward meeting curricular goals.

3. Predicts NPTE^®-PTA Exam Outcomes

TrueLearn offers custom quizzing and a mock summative assessment that all yield national comparative analytics to predict future outcomes from the beginning of the program. The expanded FSBPT^® blueprint categorization of questions in TrueLearn’s PTA SmartBank provides faculty access to a more granular selection of questions for quizzes to help them integrate formative assessments throughout the curriculum. Content is written by high-performing physical therapists and PTA faculty members and undergoes a rigorous peer review process to ensure questions reflect the current exam style. These practice questions also come with rich answer explanations that are helpful for learning and bottom lines that focus on key takeaways. Coupled with detailed performance data by category, subcategories, topics, and individual items, program leaders and faculty gain actionable insight and predictive data to steer desired NPTE^®-PTA outcomes for students.

How this helps programs Assessing students through high-quality questions that mirror the question stems on the actual exam, are aligned to the NPTE^®-PTA content outline, cover topics tested on the exam, and are taken in a simulated timed and online environment is the greatest predictor of actual exam outcomes. Programs and faculty can thus get a picture of the potential outcomes, spot gaps, and course-correct as needed to achieve desired results.

4. Empowers Students with a Self-Assessment Tool

The demand for technology as part of students’ learning experience is a great place to start, but more focus needs to be placed on performance feedback and comparative analytics. With TrueLearn, faculty and students gain insights into the latter’s overall performance, category weaknesses and strengths, topic performance, and progress over time. Picmonic also provides students with real-time feedback as they answer low-stakes questions and complete spaced repetition quizzes based on their content weaknesses.

How this helps programs Such visibility enables students to understand where to focus their studies so they come to class more prepared, get more out of their courses and training, and improve their chances of a first-time pass on the NPTE^®-PTA. With students poised for licensure success, programs are on track to meet set goals.

5. Averts the Need for Remediation

Educators need an effective methodology to help students pivot away from rote memorization, which has a frustratingly short-lived efficacy, and ensure students develop good learning hygiene very early in the program. Implementing active learning strategies alongside the curriculum that supports the development of all students can help reduce student attrition, lessen individual remediation needs, and improve overall performance and outcomes.

TrueLearn and Picmonic utilize active learning strategies and learning science principles to help with recall and spaced repetition to fight the “forgetting curve”. Faculty can choose to test and cement students’ knowledge comprehension by assigning quizzes on TrueLearn, then allow students to review their low-performing content areas on Picmonic, and vice versa.

How this helps programs These research-proven strategies not only help students learn more effectively but also improve their concept mastery and application of knowledge. When students can solidify their foundational knowledge, they are better prepared to sit for the NPTE^®-PTA—saving programs the time and resources that might otherwise be needed to implement remediation.

6. Improves Efficiency of Academic Hours

Both TrueLearn and Picmonic use memory retention algorithms to improve students’ mastery of course material at the appropriate time. Students can learn any of the 4,000+ facts via over 430 video lessons on Picmonic, receive personalized daily quizzes to improve retention and recall, and test their knowledge and exam preparedness with TrueLearn in a simulated test-day environment. Not only will this synergy enrich students’ learning, but it will also allow faculty to cover more content across the curriculum because students have truly mastered previously taught material.

How this helps programs Faculty save time on lesson planning while still effectively guiding students to sharpen their clinical skills, allowing them to optimize academic hours. Educators can then focus more on helping students develop higher-order thinking and lifelong learning habits, all of which are critical not only to outperform on the NPTE^®-PTA but also for their future success.

Comprehensive exam preparation solutions based on cognitive research and learning science like TrueLearn and Picmonic have been proven to enhance learning and exam outcomes. Integrated into the curriculum, these two platforms help sharpen an educator’s toolkit with data-led resources while fostering a collaborative and active learning environment where PTA students can thrive.

_{*NPTE^® is a trademark of Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT^®). This content is not endorsed or approved by Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT^®).}