Occupational Therapy OTD

Occupational Therapy Curriculum

Professional Year 1

Spring 1

Summer 1

Fall 1

Professional Year 2

Spring 2

Summer 2

Fall 2

Professional Year 3

Spring 3

Summer 2025

Fieldwork

Level I Fieldwork provides an introduction to the fieldwork experience while familiarizing students with a variety of clients and contexts of intervention. AOTA states that “The goal of Level I fieldwork is to introduce students to the fieldwork experience, to apply knowledge to practice, and to develop understanding of the needs of clients” (ACOTE, 2011, p. 33). Level I fieldwork is carried out in a wide variety of ways at occupational therapy educational institutions across the county. Level I fieldwork consists of three, semester long Level I experiences and two, twelve (12) weeks Level II experiences. It begins after one semester of foundational content, allowing students to pull through, build on, & apply core knowledge with new settings encountered. In line with our developmental curriculum design each student will have a Level I experience with the mental health population, childhood/adolescent population, and with the adult/older adult population The timing of Level I experiences coincides with an assessment and intervention course to allow students to apply what they are learning in the classroom to the field.

Level II fieldwork is on-going supervised clinical experiences in which the emphasis is on the application of the academically acquired body of knowledge. Students are supervised by a licensed or registered occupational therapist with a minimum of one year of practice experience. “The goal of Level II fieldwork is to develop competent, entry-level, generalist occupational therapists. Level II fieldwork must be integral to the program’s curriculum design and must include an in-depth experience in delivering occupational therapy services to clients, focusing on the application of purposeful and meaningful occupation and research, administration, and management of occupational therapy services. It is recommended that the student be exposed to a variety of clients across the life span and to a variety of settings” (ACOTE, 2011, p. 34). A minimum of 24 weeks of full-time fieldwork is required. At FDU students complete two 12-week experiences, which typically include 12 weeks in a community setting and 12 weeks in a clinical/medical model. The Academic Fieldwork Coordinator strives to place students in their areas of interest while balancing AOTA’s recommendation to provide students with a variety of learning experiences.

Level II Fieldwork may require relocation for at least one of your experiences. Relocation means that you may be placed at an agency that is more than 100 miles from your residence. Every attempt is made to accommodate student living arrangements. However, availability and need may dictate the Level II selections.

Every student must have at least one fieldwork experience that has as its focus the psychological and social factors that influence engagement in occupation (standard C.1.7, ACOTE, 2011, p. 33). Therefore, any student who has not had a Level I fieldwork experience that fulfills this standard will be placed at a Level II agency with a primary psychosocial focus. This may require relocation as describe above.

Capstone Experience and Residency

The Doctoral Capstone Experience serves as a scholarly endeavor, which reflects the sequence and scope of the FDU-OTD curriculum. The doctoral capstone integrates and expands the students’ knowledge base through active participation in the process and experience throughout the curriculum to facilitate professional development in an individualized designated area of interest. Through education, advising and mentorship students will actively identify, research, and develop their doctoral capstone in one or more of the following areas leadership, research skills, administration, clinical practice skills, theory development, advocacy, education and program and policy development. Students will collaborate with faculty to develop specific objectives and plans for supervision. Once preparation is complete students will implement their capstone plan in a real world setting while also accepting responsibility and professional autonomy during a 14-week (560 hour) residency. The culmination of the Doctoral Capstone Experience is a defense and dissemination of their capstone project demonstrating synthesis of in-depth knowledge in the focused area of study.

Faculty mentoring the scholarly capstone projects will have expertise in emerging or advanced practices.  Examples of projects may include: occupational sustainability, reducing inequalities through occupation, wellness, and healthcare access, sustainable cities and communities, meaningful occupations through sustainable development, good health and well-being through occupation, telehealth access for inner-city families, primary care partnerships, childhood obesity, rehabilitation and technology in marginalized communities, global warming and OT practice, affordable and clean energy through home evaluations; at-risk inner-city children, among others. Additionally, the program will continue to explore new and possible emerging practice areas. 

Accreditation Status

The entry-level occupational therapy doctoral degree program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Candidacy Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA and its web address is www.acoteonline.org. The program must have a pre-accreditation review, complete an on-site evaluation, and be granted Accreditation Status before its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). In addition, all states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.