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AMTA Massage Therapy Schools Summit
Highlights
St. Pete Beach, Florida played host to over 100 school owners,
administrators, teachers and industry supporters February 18-19,
2010, for AMTA’s Massage Therapy Schools Summit. New this year
was the participation of massage therapy school faculty in the
general educational sessions and sessions offered specifically
for instructors. The Summit featured two full days of continuing
education, including four general sessions, nine education
classes and a wide variety of formal and informal discussion
groups on massage therapy education issues.
See
photos of the 2010 Schools Summit!
General Sessions
Teacher Sessions
Owners/Administrators Sessions
Roundtable Discussion
Exhibitors and Sponsors
Questions / Save the Date for 2011!
General Sessions:
Stephanie Frank’s timely opening session on “Staying Resilient
in Changing Times” was both informative and fun as she provided
attendees with tips on gaining peak performance both personally
and within their schools. One tip referred to the movie the
Peaceful Warrior and the importance of one being aware of and in
the moment – to slow down and observe in order to speed up.
Many schools are struggling to increase their
retention rates; an indicator tracked by many accreditation
organizations and requested by some potential students. Dianne
Polseno and Dawnette Cabaluna highlighted retention practices
and policies that are success for their schools, Cortiva and
Steiner, respectively. To view their presentations and learn
more about how practices such as analyzing attrition data and
creating a retention team can positively affect your school’s
retention numbers,
click here.
Have you and your colleagues reviewed your
curriculum to compare it to the current Massage Therapy Body of
Knowledge (MTBOK) draft document? The intent of the MTBOK is to
provide owners and educators with a current outline of the
knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) that all entry-level
massage therapy students should know. Kevin Pierce and Chip
Hines facilitated discussion on the
MTBOK and are requesting
your feedback regarding the content.
Attendees were the first to receive
AMTA’s Massage
Industry Research Report. The report is one of AMTA’s school
member benefits and includes research intended to help schools
improve their curriculum and student services by providing the
most up-to-date information on the industry. AMTA Executive
Director Elizabeth M. Lucas, CAE, gave an overview of the
report, followed by presentations by Dale Healey, DC and Jeffrey
Forman, Ph.D. on their perspectives of how the report might
impact their schools. All AMTA school members will receive a
complimentary copy of the report at the time of renewal. For
information or questions, please contact AMTA at
schoolsupport@amtamassage.org.
Back again at the request of last year’s
attendees, Lex Filipowski, presented “Admissions Miracles- The
Power of 1%- How to Increase Enrollments in Your Schools for
2010 and Beyond.’ Attendees will learn and understand the latest
in powerful yet easy to use technologies and processes in school
admissions and how you can start implementing them at your
school today. Many are low-cost or no-cost, and can help your
school create even more powerful connections between your
admissions staff and your prospective students.
Teacher Sessions:
Assessing a student’s understanding of a course content, known
more informally as testing, is a critical aspect of formal
education. Instructors should create learning outcomes, look at
current research to ensure valid and reliable content; and
establish measureable goals for the students. According to Kathy
Paholsky, Ph.D., true/false, match questions, multiple choice
(guess?), short answer and essay questions are all viable ways
to assess whether students understand the content of a course.
Over 55 million people in 200+ countries are on
LinkedIn. Facebook can be used to create a student group, for
class communications and to post videos or notes for your
classes. Twitter is a short, efficient instant message that can
relate something new to your students. Using social media to the
school’s advantage to reinforce learning can bring many benefits
to the school, the instructor and the student. Felicia Brown
discussed how to use social media effectively and at a very low
cost.
Ruth Werner was on target when she identified some of the myths
that still exist in massage therapy student education---myths
that research has shown are not true. Best guesses and good
intentions are not enough in teaching accurate, correct
curriculum. If your course content reflects any of the following
myths, it is time for a revision.
Massaging someone with cancer probably won’t
kill them.
Massage and lactic acid; the link is missing.
When you say circulation, what do you mean?
Tendinitis: probably no ‘it is involved.
Owners/Administrators Sessions:
Are you wondering how you can prepare your students for the
growth and increased demand for massage in health care and
hospital environments? The Bureau of labor Statistics and the
effect of the baby boom could drive interest in your school.
Dale Healey, DC provided specific information on why and how to
create a hospital-based school, including that by 2030 hospital
admission of boomers will more than double along with the need
for massage.
Marketing your school to increase interest,
registrations and retention is a must. Felicia Brown explained
how social media – LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter can be
cost-effective and part of your school’s marketing strategy.
Your school can incorporate blogging to share relevant
information, post links, articles, photos and videos while
making it personal and fun for your administrators and those
looking for a massage therapy school.
With the MTBOK initiative, more schools are becoming nationally
accredited to meet minimum standards established by peers in the
industry and to improve the quality of the program through the
process. If your school isn’t accredited, information is
available through Michale McComis with ACCSC, Melissa Wade with
COMTA, or any of the other U.S. Department of Education
recognized accrediting organizations.
Click here for
more information.
Are
you wondering how you can prepare your students for the growth
and increased demand for massage in health care and hospital
environments? The Bureau of labor Statistics and the effect of
the baby boom could drive interest in your school. Dale Healey,
DC provided specific information on why and how to create a
hospital-based school, including that by 2030 hospital admission
of boomers will more than double along with the need for
massage. Click
here for more information.
Roundtable Discussion:
There was a great exchange of information and ideas at the two
networking luncheons. Attendees met with others in a smaller
environment where they were able to meet up with long time
friends as well as meet new colleagues. Roundtable topics that
were discussed included: student resource creation, student
retention, faculty retention, instructor training, increasing
admissions, social media, marketing, the MTBOK and
hospital-based education.
Owners and administrators had an opportunity to
discuss critical issues that are affecting schools: identifying
enrollment decrease, school closure and mergers, and faculty
development as three important issues. During the teachers’ open
forum, the discussed focused on the need for more current
textbooks, developing teachers, and resources needed for
successful internships or externships.
Exhibitors and Sponsors:
AMTA wishes to express its appreciation for the participation of
the exhibitors and sponsors of the 2010 Massage Therapy Schools
Summit. Their support of this important educational event is
greatly appreciated. Please let them know that you appreciate
their exhibiting at this event as well.
AMTA appreciates the participation of the
exhibitors and sponsors of the 2010 Massage Therapy Schools
Summit. Their support of this important educational event is
greatly appreciated. Please let them know that you appreciate
their exhibiting at this event as well.
Click here for
more information.
AMTA wishes to thank the following individuals
who serve on AMTA’s Massage Therapy Schools Summit Planning
Committee for their time and dedication to planning the 2010
Schools Summit.
Dawnette Cabaluna
Utah College of Massage Therapy Family of Schools, Inc.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Bob Jantsch
Pittsburgh School of Massage Therapy
Pittsburgh, PA
Dianne Polseno
Cortiva Institute – Boston
Watertown, MA
Michelle Vahlkamp, AMTA Staff Liaison
American Massage Therapy Association
Questions?
For more information on AMTA school member benefits or how to
more effectively use the your benefits, please email us at
schoolsupport@amtamassage.org.
Interested in speaking at the 2011 Schools
Summit? The Call for Speakers will be available on AMTA’s
Web site on April 1, 2010.
SAVE THE DATE:
Mark your calendar for the 2011 Massage
Therapy Schools Summit on February 18-19, 2011 in San
Francisco, California. The theme of the Summit is “Thriving in
Change.”
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American Massage Therapy Association®
