About The School of Occupational Therapy History & Philosophy

The University of Indianapolis graduated its first Master of Occupational Therapy class in December 1987 under the direction of the program's founder, Dr. Zona (Dotty) Weeks. In 2000, the program was renamed the School of Occupational Therapy. Seven years later, the School of Occupational Therapy joined with the Krannert School of Physical Therapy under the umbrella of the UIndy College of Health Sciences.

Throughout all those years of growth and change, the University of Indianapolis School of Occupational Therapy has earned recognition as one of the premier institutions in the education of outstanding clinicians. The School now offers an entry-level Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) in two tracks, a 2-day/week, 3.5 year track, and a 5-day/week, 2.5 year track; and a 3-year, 5-day/week entry-level Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD). The School of Occupational Therapy is led by a team of highly qualified faculty with broad experience in multiple practice and specialty areas.

UIndy SOT Philosophy of Occupation

Humans are occupational beings who participate in occupations individually or collectively, in local and social communities, or as part of co-occupations that are shared with others and involve active participation from both or all people (American Occupation Therapy Association [AOTA], 2020a). Occupations are personalized “everyday activities that people do as individuals, in families, and with communities to occupy time and bring meaning and purpose to life” (AOTA, 2020a, p. S79). Occupations are situated in social and cultural constructs (Nyman & Isaksson, 2021) and can have a population and global impact (Ung et al., 2020).

Engagement in occupations promotes participation, defined as “involvement in a life situation” (World Health Organization, 2024, para. 1). Ensuring lasting engagement (Brick et al., 2020) in healthy, meaningful (AOTA, 2020a), and ecologically sustaining occupations (Ung et al., 2020) is the focus of occupational therapy. The purpose of occupational therapy is to activate successful change for persons and their families, populations, systems, and communities (AOTA, 2020a). Occupational therapy practitioners assist people in identifying values, setting goals, scheduling and monitoring activity, and learning skills (Brick et al., 2020). Behavioral change in occupational therapy involves the facilitation of systems and communities to balance occupations and performance patterns through creation of supportive contexts (Eklund et al., 2017).

Occupational therapy practitioners recognize the importance of being culturally responsive (AOTA, 2020b), providing client-centered care, and in responding to and leading resolution of community and population-identified occupational needs (Leclair, 2010). Cultural responsiveness of the occupational therapy practitioner reflects life-long learning about the culture of clients as well as promotes understanding that their culture is different from that of the client’s.

Occupations can be meaningful and psychologically rewarding (Ikiugu et al., 2019); in contrast, occupations can be meaningful but not necessarily rewarding (Ikiugu et al., 2019). Occupations can also be productive, pleasurable, and restorative (Pierce, 2014). Participation in occupations can counter societal values (Twinley, 2012), impact ecosystems negatively (Ung et al., 2020), and contribute to intergenerational occupational injustice (Drolet et al., 2020) when there is disproportionate support for some groups compared to others (Nyman & Isaksson, 2021). Social inequalities, resulting from a pattern of uneven distribution of resources, contribute to different opportunities for individuals and groups to engage in occupations (Angell, 2014).

Occupational performance contributes powerfully to an individual’s health and wellbeing. There also may be negative influences on health arising from the consequences of an individual’s occupational choices (Whittaker, 2012), inequities due to membership in a vulnerable population (AOTA, 2020a), effect of chronic conditions (Brick et al., 2020), restricted access to resources and family or community support (Whalley Hammell & Iwama, 2012), and experience of the differential impact of policy and social order (Angell, 2014). Global wellbeing is interdependent; when occupations occur locally, there is a potentially additive and possibly inadvertent impact across the world (Whittaker, 2012).

In summary, occupations are complex, distinctive, meaningful, and multicontextual. Occupations influence persons and their families, populations, communities, and organizations across the world and can impact ecological sustainability. Engagement in rewarding or meaningful occupations and having opportunities to engage is important for health and wellbeing and is vital in the promotion of occupational justice globally for all persons.

University of Indianapolis School of Occupational Therapy Fundamental Beliefs about Human Beings and How They Learn

Humans are self-directed and seek learning as they experience the world around them (Knowles, 1980). Learners of occupational therapy reject dichotomies like mind–body, thought–action, rational–practical, and function–structure that could divide understanding into parts (Hooper & Wood, 2002). People are agentic in the cultivation of their environments. Because humans envision desired futures, they direct action toward realizing those futures. Agency is inextricably tied with biology, the environment, and society (Breines, 1987). 

Because knowledge is also socially and culturally constructed (Lave & Wenger, 1991), learning is developed and changed in and through social relationships so that roles, identities, rules and social structures of everyday activity evolve with the culture (Lave & Wenger). As a result of learning being socially constructed, students who self-govern and self-direct with peers in multiple disciplines have greater opportunities to develop into high performing learning and problem-solving teams (Davis & Sumara, 2006).

This growing reservoir of experience, self-directed or team-directed, increasingly becomes a more important resource for learning that enriches the total learning experience (Knowles, 1980). Students are ready to learn when they expound on existing knowledge, beliefs and attitudes; establish new points of view through new information and experience; and transform existing points of view and habits of mind to become more critically reflective (Mezirow, 1997).

To become more critically reflective, an important habit of mind is that linear problem solving no longer works due to unexpected consequences typical of complex open systems that do not have arbitrary boundaries (Davis & Sumara, 2006). Students interact with these complex systems throughout the curriculum in their coursework, research or evidence-based practice projects, fieldwork, and if OTD students, their doctoral capstone experience. Because societal problems may appear intractable and overly complex, students manage discomfort with uncertainty through optimism and tenacity, knowing that many solutions are possible. Problem-solving requires invention and cannot be previously known until working in context and within a network of like-minded problem solvers from multiple disciplines and inclusive of other critical stakeholders.

Students understand that change is constant and unpredictable. Given this new habit of mind, students are willing to discard old information and ineffective ways of doing things that are no longer helpful to develop solutions. Communication for learning is open and is not controlled or limited; and in fact, is globally connected bringing new understanding of culture and community.

Learning is pragmatic through an empathetic focus on the challenges of persons in society, a gradual understanding of their situations as intricately woven through multiple systems, and development of solutions applicable to open systems as a result of community and stakeholder collaboration. Learning is promoted through examination of failure as a way to eventually reach success because of recursive feedback, persistence, and optimism (Davis & Sumara, 2006). Iterative learning through successes and failures emphasizes holism, criticality, creativity and innovation. There is a cycle of creation using empathetic understanding of stakeholders, rapid cycles of testing to gain feedback, and ongoing modification and improvement as the system and stakeholders need change.

Because learning is complex and embedded in context when focused on social solutions, students use a variety of learning strategies, digital technologies, and networks to connect better with their lifeworld. Knowledge accessed through multimedia is fluid and constantly evolving, requiring learners to frequently consider alternate views from many stakeholders and persons from multiple disciplines. Multimedia learning engages perception, affect, memory, problem solving, communicative purpose and performative acts (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). There is a focus on combining digital information with the internal processes of reflection and meaning, such as might occur in gamification or simulation learning platforms and other types of simulation, such as case-based learning, or working with patient actors or patient volunteers. Gamification and simulation promote experimentation through active trial and error, and making mistakes in safe environments where learning can occur from failure. Feedback is immediate and consequential to future action. 

Theoretical Implications for Curriculum Sequence

1. Self-directed, team-directed with multiple disciplines and stakeholders to become agentic; learning to become high performing teams; sharing learning with others
2. Transformative learning process through experience and digital technologies that lead to reflection.
   1. Expound on existing knowledge, beliefs and attitudes;
   2. Establish new points of view through new information and experience; and
   3. Transform existing points of view and habits of mind to become more critically reflective
3. Non-linear problem-solving in open systems to tackle social problems; using strategies involving innovation, networking, multimedia, gamification, and simulation as well as working with communities, and other stakeholders from multiple disciplines.