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Deliberate Practice

Throughout the P&O program, you will practice specific tasks with deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice involves learning a task with well-defined goals (i.e., performance checklist), intentional practice (your focus), immediate feedback (from instructors), self-reflection on performance (after-class reflections), and repeated performance to refine skills. The figure below illustrates the “what, so what, now what” self-reflection model and associated reflective questions for the after-class assignments.

What?  So What?  Now What? 
Statement of skills practiced, what you were trying to achieve and your technical performance. May include thoughts about performance skills with materials, equipment, or tools. Suggest strategies for improvement or ongoing maintenance of things that are you are doing well. See the list of “Additional Items” below this table.
  • What physical, problem solving, and teamwork skill did I practice?
  • May include areas of success, biggest challenges and/or what needs improvement.
    • What went well? What needs improvement?
    • What was the biggest challenge?
  • Shifts in my understanding of my skill performance that I noticed after practicing the skills?
  • Shifts in my physical, problem solving, and/or teamwork skills?
  • May include thoughts and/or feelings about performance skills with materials, equipment, or tools.
  • May include connections or broader issues about your skills/performance in class with other skills or skills developed in other settings.
  • How will I alter my performance?
  • How will I alter my preparation, thinking, and problem solving?
  • How might I transfer this learning to other contexts?
  • May identify challenges to skill development and request for help.

Additional items to help you reflect more deeply

  • Physical skills: coordination skills (e.g., hand-eye coordination), effort/force applied, sensory feedback, finesse, body posture, timing, and attends to details to improve the appearance, ie clean materials, aesthetics, etc. E.g., If you play sports, it’s similar to specific things you might do to improve the way you throw or catch a ball.
  • Problem-solving skills: prior planning, time management, demonstrates perseverance thoroughness and self-direction.
  • Safety skills: Preparedness, uses PPE and dresses in lab attire, cleans up after self, and considers material usage and the entire fabrication process to reduce waste and facilitate a sustainable practice.
  • Teamwork skills: acknowledges mistakes, shares in responsibility of the team, has a positive attitude about the task and work of others, and respectfully listens, interacts, discusses and poses questions to all members of team
  • Consider if your skills meet the quality standards you might expect of a professional and provision of care to a patient.
  • If you were happy with your performance, state something that went well. E.g., I was happy with my body posture and ability to feel the compression of the foam against the shoe machine to create a smooth bevelled pad.
  • You do not need to address all of the items! These are suggestions to help you reflect more deeply.

License

Lab Safety, Tools, and Techniques in Prosthetics and Orthotics Copyright © by Sue Spaulding; Amanda Barizo; Susan Kapp; and bryan roehr. All Rights Reserved.

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