Outcomes Assessment of Dental Hygiene Clinical Teaching Workshops

Abstract

Faculty development courses related to acquiring clinical teaching skills in the health professions are limited. Consequently, the Department of Dental Hygiene at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio conducted a series of clinical teaching workshops to address clinical teaching methodology. The goal of these workshops was to promote a problemsolving learning atmosphere for dental hygiene faculty to acquire and share sound clinical teaching strategies. To determine the value of the annual workshops on clinical teaching and evaluation, a web-based qualitative program assessment was developed using software by Survey Tracker. Four open-ended questions were designed to elicit perceptions regarding what significant changes in teaching strategies were achieved, what barriers or challenges were encountered in making these changes, and what strategies were used to overcome the barriers. The assessment was sent to dental hygiene educators representing thirty-eight dental hygiene programs who had participated in two or more of these workshops. Twenty-eight programs provided collective responses to the questions, and the narrative data were analyzed, using a qualitative methodology. Responses revealed that programs had made productive changes to their clinical education curricula and the information gained from the workshops had a positive effect on clinical teaching.

Academic perceptions amongst educators towards eLearning tools in dental education

“…Educator’s responses strongly supported the use of a LMS such as WebCT especially in regard to the accessibility of the system, whilst at home. The valuing of discussion forums and groups sign‐up lists by educators indicates an alignment to socioconstructivist approaches to education where interaction among students becomes an instrument for collaborative learning and meaningful construction of knowledge 22 . The support for external weblink affordance is also significant.…”

Evaluating the students' perspectives of a clinic mentoring programme

“…Many students report that discussions about treatment with row instructors (the dentists assigned to supervise the students in the clinic) in front of the patient can be intimidating. Other studies have found that ‘the establishment of a non‐threatening environment and respectful attitude encourages students to risk failure’, which is a critical element in clinical learning . Other identified strengths included mentors bringing much experience to guide them (63%), making students more comfortable in achieving their clinical competencies (64%) and being a good role model for the student (76%) (Table ).…”

Dental School Faculty and the Academic Environment from 1936 to 2011: Familiar Features in a New Context

“…These articles took readers through each stage of the PBL development process from introduction to key skills to an experiential exercise to facilitating group learning to assessment. In other examples, Hinton et al 22 described faculty development programs to create a culture for evidence‐based dentistry at Baylor College of Dentistry; Wallace and Infante 23 reported on workshops in clinical teaching skills they held at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio for faculty members in thirty‐eight dental hygiene programs; and Pyle and Goldberg 24 chronicled the steps taken by the faculty and administration to vision, plan, and implement transformational curricular change at Case School of Dental Medicine.…”