Students’ Perceptions of Instructional Rubrics in Neurological Physical Therapy and Their Effects on Students’ Engagement and Course Satisfaction

One of the main challenges faced by physical therapy (PT) students is to learn the practical skills involved in neurological physical therapy (PT). To help them to acquire these skills, a set of rubrics were designed for formative purposes. This paper presents the process followed in the creation of these rubrics and their application in the classroom, noting that students perceived them as valid, reliable, and highly useful for learning. The perception of the validity and usefulness of the rubrics has different closely related dimensions, showing homogeneous values across the students´ sociodemographic and educational variables, with the exception of dedication to studying, which showed a significant relationship with schoolwork engagement and course satisfaction. The adequacy of the hypothesized structural model of the relationships among the variables was confirmed. Direct effects of the perception of the rubrics’ validity and engagement on course satisfaction were found, as well as direct effects of the assessment of the usefulness of the rubrics on schoolwork engagement and indirect effects on course satisfaction through this latter variable. The results are discussed taking into account the conclusions of previous research and different instructional implications.