From a clinical educator’s perspective
| Heidi L. Peters DAT, LAT, ATC | Director of Clinical Education |Assistant Professor, Athletic Training |
When people talk about athletic training education, the focus is almost always on what students are learning. We measure competencies, track progress, and design experiences around preparing them for practice. But one of the quiet truths of education is that the learning isn’t one-directional.
Every year, my students teach me something about the profession I thought I already understood.
Sometimes it’s subtle. A question that exposes an assumption I didn’t realize I was carrying. A perspective that reframes a familiar problem. A moment of hesitation that reminds me what it feels like to stand at the edge of responsibility for the first time. Watching students move through their training is a constant reminder that expertise can create blind spots, and that curiosity is often more valuable than certainty.
One of the most important lessons my students have taught me is that real learning requires risk, and risk is uncomfortable for everyone involved.
In athletic training education, we ask students to make decisions before they feel fully ready. We ask them to speak up, commit to clinical reasoning, and accept corrections in real time. From an educator’s perspective, this is intentional. Growth depends on learners being willing to reveal what they don’t yet know.
But watching students navigate that process has reshaped how I think about feedback. Getting something wrong in a clinical setting doesn’t just test knowledge; it tests identity. Students are often negotiating an internal tension between wanting to appear competent and needing space to develop competence. That tension is where feedback becomes most powerful, and most delicate.
Educators live in a similar tension. We want students to feel supported, but we also have a responsibility to maintain professional standards. There are moments when we dig our heels in, not to assert authority, but to protect the integrity of practice. From the outside, that firmness can feel abrupt or inflexible. From the inside, it reflects a commitment to preparing students for environments where precision matters.
Student Perspective: Learning from Resistance- Aydan Massengill
At the end of fall 2024, I received my clinical rotation placement for spring 2025 and initially questioned why I was assigned to a football rotation with a new preceptor. I felt confused and frustrated because I had already completed a football rotation at a high school and was unsure how things would go due to differing personalities and expectations. My confidence was low at first because I did not know what to expect, but I pushed myself to make the best of the situation. As the rotation progressed, I began to understand why I had been placed there. It challenged me to become more outgoing, adaptable, and aware of how unpredictable an athletic training schedule can be. By the end of the experience, I realized that I had been intentionally placed in a setting that would help me grow both personally and professionally. This experience taught me to trust educators and supervisors more and helped me develop greater confidence in unfamiliar situations.
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What students continually remind me is that feedback is never purely technical. It’s relational. How it’s delivered and interpreted shapes whether it becomes a catalyst for growth or a source of hesitation. In environments where feedback is consistent and grounded in trust, students begin to understand that correction is not a judgment of their potential; it’s an investment in it.
This understanding doesn’t emerge automatically. It develops through repeated interactions where expectations are clear and support is visible. When students see that educators are equally committed to their success and to the profession’s standards, feedback becomes less about right and wrong and more about refinement.
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Student Perspective: Experiencing Feedback in Real Time- Hope Britt
I have experienced several different teaching styles throughout my educational journey. At the university level, professors and preceptors have the freedom to design their coursework in ways they believe best help students understand and benefit from the content. This means that I have learned to adapt to differences and often learn through correction. Especially in a fast-paced field like athletic training, it is crucial to be flexible and to navigate correction, feedback, and coaching with grace. In clinical practice, I have had many opportunities for correction and real-time feedback. The way that this correction is given had a huge impact on how I felt when receiving it. If the correction is given graciously to help the student improve, it feels like a welcome instruction that makes me a better healthcare professional. If the correction is given in a way that embarrasses the student and undermines their rapport with the athletes they work with, it is harmful to the student’s learning experience. It can deflate their confidence and discourage them from trying new things that they are not 100% confident in. I have experienced both types of correction and learned from both, but one set me up to be bold and continue learning, while the other discouraged me from trying new things. What I have found to be the most helpful form of correctional feedback is a debrief after the patient encounter or at the end of the day. If there is something that needs to be corrected in the moment for the safety or best care of the athlete and/or student, then it needs to be done in the moment, but if it is a tip for improved technique or even a different equally valuable method, then discussing it not in the presence of the athlete is best. The athletes should know that the students are students and still learning, but an overwhelming amount of unnecessary live correction will damage that student’s confidence and rapport with the athletes, thus limiting their opportunities to practice their skills. Overall, both the corrector and the corrected should handle the situation with humility and grace, understanding that there are always ways to grow and optimize patient care.
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Students also teach educators to be more intentional about explaining the “why” behind our responses. When we articulate the reasoning behind firm feedback, why a particular detail matters, or why a standard can’t bend, we invite students into the values that underpin professional practice. That transparency transforms feedback from a moment of evaluation into a shared conversation about what good care requires.
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Student Perspective: Building Trust in Feedback- Boston Follis
The fear of failure is pervasive. Reasonably so, because who wants to get laughed at, judged, or have their reputation tainted by the stench of failure? Although failure may seem unacceptable, what if there were a bright side? What if failure had greater long-term benefits at the sacrifice of your pride? For me, it took multiple conversations to get the fear of failure out of my head. I was just starting the MSAT program, and my program director sat us all down and told us straight up, “You will fail, and you will fail a lot.” And as a college athlete with unrealistically high expectations for myself, failure scared me.
The first step for me was changing the word “failure” to “feedback.” Changing the word helped me see mistakes as opportunities to grow. This became apparent to me one day in the lab while we were learning about Lachman’s test. I remember our instructor telling me that he still struggles to get a good “thunk” on Lachman’s. His vulnerability and humility demonstrated that he wasn’t perfect, and that created trust. I trusted him not to judge me or think anything differently about me because he admitted he wasn’t perfect either. From that moment on, I was comfortable trying new things and making mistakes in front of him. Truthfully, I ended up doing all my practical exams with him because I felt the most comfortable getting feedback from him.
Thankfully, I caught on to using failure as an opportunity to learn very early in my MSAT program. I think learning from your shortcomings is a life skill that should be mastered. It’s not easy, and it takes time; there needs to be trust between you and whoever you’re working with. The first step to fostering that relationship is to be genuinely vulnerable with someone and extend your hand out to them. Meet whoever it is, where they are, to build that connection. It allows them to trust you so you can grow together.
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What emerges from this exchange is a shared understanding that getting it wrong is not a failure; it’s an essential step in becoming competent. Educators and students are both navigating the discomfort of that reality. We ask learners to risk imperfection in order to grow, and in return, we owe them feedback that is honest, purposeful, and anchored in respect.
From an educator’s perspective, students’ willingness to take those risks is one of the most generous aspects of the learning relationship. Every time a student offers an answer they’re unsure of or attempts a skill still in progress, they’re placing trust in the environment we’ve created. Recognizing that trust sharpens our responsibility to provide constructive, meaningful feedback.
Students don’t just learn from feedback; they teach us how to give it better. In that reciprocal process, both sides move closer to a shared goal: developing clinicians who are confident enough to act, humble enough to accept correction, and resilient enough to keep learning long after formal education ends.
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Professional Bio
Dr. Heidi Peters graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from Marywood University in Scranton, PA, in 2014, followed by her Doctorate in Athletic Training from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN, in 2019. Dr. Peters has worked clinically in various settings, including outpatient physical therapy, secondary schools, NCAA athletics, orthopedic physicians’ offices, and, most recently, as a per diem athletic trainer with Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Dr. Peters began her career as an educator in 2016 as an adjunct in the athletic training and exercise science programs at Marywood University. She continued her clinical work and spent time as a preceptor while completing her doctorate. She transitioned to academia full-time in 2021. She continues her traditional research agenda in athletic training education, most recently sitting on the Recruitment and Retention Research Committee for the Association for Athletic Training Education. Dr. Peters’ practice-based research has focused on athletic trainers’ use of social and media spaces for advocacy, as well as on data-driven decision-making for clinical online education.
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