Physiopedia is teaming up with the University of Western Cape in South Africa this summer to bring you a free open online Professional Ethics Course for physiotherapists and physical therapists. Taking place over seven weeks in July and August this course will be a truly international gathering of students, clinicians and tutors of all levels to engage in what is perhaps the first open online course of this kind for our profession.
The course is part of the PHT402 (Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy) module from the University of Western Cape (UWC) which is a 10 credit, yearlong module offered as part of the 3rd and 4th year undergraduate programme. Michael Rowe, the educational lead on this course, has opened up the course for anyone to attend and take part. Although you won’t be eligible for credits from UWC, on successful completion of the course you will be awarded a completion certificate and a Physiopedia Badge.
The overarching theme of this module is to equip teachers and students with the language of critique and the rhetoric of empowerment to become transformative agents who recognize, challenge, and transform injustice and inequitable social structures. Another major theme is the development of empathy as a way of deepening our relationships with other human beings as a pathways towards social change.
Empathy isn’t just something that expands your moral universe. Empathy is something that can make you a more creative thinker, improve your relationships, can create the human bonds that make life worth living. But, more than that, empathy is also about social change — radical social change. Philosopher Roman Krznaric on empathy and social change
At the end of this module, students should be able to:
- Identify and describe relevant theoretical concepts related to professional ethics in physiotherapy
- Gather evidence that can be used to support a claim or conclusion
- Synthesise evidence from different sources and develop a conclusion that is both personal and informed by those sources
- Engage with their peers in a public discourse on ethical challenges, which serves to inform autonomous choices
- Manage differing opinions on complex ethical scenarios
- Use a technology platform as a part of their learning environment
Students will be expected to complete at least 3 hours of learning per week which will include completing a learning portfolio and engaging with the course conversation online.
If you would like to find out more about the course, visit the Professional Ethics Course in Physiopedia
You can register for the course online by completing our registration form