Six Positive Outcomes for Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Programs Realized with TrueLearn and Picmonic

The challenges faced by Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) educators are manifold. Educators need to effectively guide OTA students to build foundational knowledge, strengthen their knowledge application in clinical practice, and sharpen their clinical judgment and decision-making skills – all of which are instrumental in driving optimal course, program, and NBCOT^® COTA^® exam outcomes. To reach these goals, educators need an active learning and data-led tool to augment teaching, track student progress, identify at-risk students early enough to tailor remediation, and course-correct education plans to meet curricular goals. 

Here are six positive outcomes from integrating TrueLearn and Picmonic into the OTA curriculum to drive more efficient concept mastery and knowledge application in coursework and throughout the program and ensure NBCOT^® COTA^® exam preparedness.

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. The content across four domains on the NBCOT^® COTA^® exam is covered, allowing educators to easily assign Picmonic’s mnemonic lessons as pre-lecture study material to help students come to class prepared, which enables educators to accelerate them through more complex learning. 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 by cohort or by class or group, generating actionable data to help faculty sharpen classroom instruction, leading to improved course and program outcomes.

2. Pinpoints Weak Subject Areas

TrueLearn’s OTA SmartBank is aligned with the NBCOT^® COTA^® exam content outline, which tests knowledge across four Domain areas, each with a set of associated Tasks and Knowledge Statements. The performance data generated from integrating TrueLearn into the curriculum helps surface learning gaps to guide remediation and drive optimal program and exam outcomes. To address these and help expedite memory retention and recall, TrueLearn enables faculty to create and assign quizzes from over 1,000 board-style questions. Picmonic also includes low-stakes quizzes that cover more than 5,000 need-to-know facts, surfacing the topics that students are struggling with.

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

3. Predicts NBCOT^® COTA^® 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. High-performing OT professionals and faculty members write questions, which undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure they reflect the current exam style and practice recommendations. These 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 NBCOT^® COTA^® 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 NBCOT^® COTA^® 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, students gain insights into their overall performance, category weaknesses and strengths, topic performance, progress over time, and even confidence range for content areas. 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 helps students understand where to focus their studies, so they come to class more prepared, get more out of their courses and training, and ultimately pass the NBCOT^® COTA^® exam the first time.

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. 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 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 NBCOT^® COTA^® —saving programs the time and resources that might otherwise be needed to implement remediation.

6. Improves Efficiency of Academic Hours

With TrueLearn and Picmonic, educators can optimize academic hours by saving time on lesson planning while effectively guiding students to sharpen their clinical skills. Both platforms use memory retention algorithms to improve students’ mastery of course material at the appropriate time. Students can learn any of the thousands of facts covering hundreds of OTA topics 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 NBCOT^® COTA^®  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 OTA students can thrive. 

_{*COTA^® is a trademark of the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT^®). This content is not endorsed or approved by NBCOT^®.}