The Emergent Professional Identity Mapping or EPIM is an activity developed for entry-level doctoral capstone students to reflect on their personal and professional values and their public purposes as they envision their professional work. The activity guides them to think about their interests and passions and how their interests resonate with the profession of occupational therapy. The reflection leads them to consider their emergent professional identity and how they might align that with their selection of a doctoral capstone site in consideration of desired public works. The EPIM is an artifact of the pre-publication article titled “Making the Case for Intentionally Designed Self-Directed Learning in the OT doctoral Curricula: The role of emergent professional identity development” by Christine Kroll, OTD, MS, OTR, FAOTA and Mary Price, Ph.D.

Creator

• Kroll, Christine

• Price, Mary F.

Abstract

• The entry-level occupational therapy doctoral programs require a new experiential placement called the doctoral capstone. The entry-level doctorate in occupational therapy is relatively new to the profession; hence, there is little experience with the doctoral capstone, and ways to implement the doctoral capstone and experience are still developing. This article focuses on the importance of developing metacognitive capacity leading to lifelong learning in doctoral occupational therapy education. Guided by Transformational Learning Theory and extant scholarship on professional identity development, the doctoral capstone is an opportunity to foster learners' metacognitive skills through developing their emergent professional identity. The authors share an instructional strategy, Emergent Professional Identity Mapping (EPIM), used to align learners' values and roles with a meaningful selection of a doctoral capstone site. The EPIM encourages the learner to move towards self-directed learning, develop an awareness of the emergent character of their professional identity, and cultivate mindfulness in how practice is part of professional identity development. This article documents how one such program is using a doctoral capstone development course as a critical place to include skills development for self-directed learning, critical reflection, and professional identity development.

Publisher

• University of Indianapolis

Keyword

• Occupational therapy doctoral capstone, self-directed learning, emergent professional identity, transformational learning theory

Date created

• 02/07/2022

Resource type

• Article

Rights statement

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/