Defining dental operative skills curricula: An ADEE consensus paper

Abstract

This paper reports on the recent activity of the pan‐European consensus of the ADEE Special Interest Group for Pre‐Clinical Operative Skills. Following the previous recommendations from the group, and in order to support teachers and to harmonise the delivery of skills training across Europe, a more formal curriculum relating to pre‐clinical operative skills needs to be created. This paper reports European consensus surrounding the categorisation (level of importance, and difficulty) of basic operative dental clinical skills within the undergraduate curriculum and provides recommendations relating to session structure and timing of curricular elements for basic operative dental clinical skills teaching.

Simulated skill complexity and perceived cognitive load during preclinical dental training

“…At the subsequent stage, another complexity level of a given task can be introduced which is less likely to overwhelm the cognitive capacity of the learner because some elements have been previously learned. The deconstruction of complex operative skills to enhance learning efficiency was one of the main recommendations made by the ADEE Special Interest Group for Pre‐Clinical Operative Skills in the recently published consensus paper 30 . Furthermore, applying such cognitive load principles would facilitate an informed and structured approach to incorporate technology into dental education 31 .…”

“…The deconstruction of complex operative skills to enhance learning efficiency was one of the main recommendations made by the ADEE Special Interest Group for Pre-Clinical Operative Skills in the recently published consensus paper. 30 Furthermore, applying such cognitive load principles would facilitate an informed and structured approach to incorporate technology into dental education. 31 Interestingly, newer virtual reality haptic dental simulators with their advanced features, may tap into this de-construction principle especially at the early stages of psychomotor skill learning by allowing stepwise increase in practice difficulty.…”

Interactive Crossword Puzzles as an Adjunct Tool in Teaching Undergraduate Dental Students

“…Ideally, student satisfaction data cannot be used to assess students' recall of essential concepts. It is evident, however, that the overall completion of the puzzle presented herein averaged 74.9% by the time the competition ended which, in turn, demonstrates good performance in recalling the content, favorable cognitive load, and increased cognitive capacity [ 52 ]. Within the context of advanced knowledge acquisition and transfer, there are two types of transfer, near and far, which describe the extent to which learners can apply their new knowledge [ 53 ].…”

Embedding environmental sustainability within oral health professional curricula—Recommendations for teaching and assessment of learning outcomes

“…The consensus was developed using a model similar to that described by Field et al 8 This consisted of three methodological components, in keeping with Kern's model of curriculum development 16 : an initial needs analysis (involving a scoping questionnaire and a SIG discussion), setting educational goals and objectives (consisting of a separate SIG discussion with pan‐European educators to define specific learning outcomes) and, at the same time, developing educational strategies (to include methods of teaching and assessment). …”

“…A clear need was established for the creation of teaching materials and guidance for educators and those responsible for curriculum development. 7 Aligning with other ADEE SIG recommendations, 8 the group suggests that learning outcomes, teaching activities and assessment activities should be developed and shared collaboratively. As such, to support educators and to further harmonise the delivery of OHP education across Europe, more formal curriculum elements relating to ES need to be created.…”