Dental Educators’ Perceptions of Educational Learning Domains

Abstract

The aim of this study was to seek the views of a national sample of dental educators regarding the importance of learning domains in dental education, their defined outcomes of those domains, and their perceived effectiveness of their schools in guiding learning in those domains. The study defined the educational domains important for training future dentists as knowledge, technical skills, critical thinking, ethics, social responsibility, and interprofessional education/practice (IPE/IPP). A survey of members of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Special Interest Group on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning was conducted in 2017. In addition to reporting their demographics, participants were asked to rate and rank the importance of each learning domain as well as answer open‐ended questions. Of the 89 respondents (response rate 12.5%), 31% were course directors, and 48% had been dental faculty members for more than ten years. Knowledge was ranked as the most important domain, followed by critical thinking, technical skills, clinical decision making, ethics, problem‐solving, social responsibility, and finally IPE/IPP. When rating the absolute importance of these domains in the training of dental students, the respondents gave all but IPE/IPP and social responsibility the highest rating. Knowledge and technical skills were rated highest for respondents’ confidence in defining student outcomes with similar high ratings for their confidence in guiding this learning. There was little consensus concerning a definition of critical thinking, and a third of the respondents were uncertain of specific learning outcomes for it. Participants expressed even less confidence in defining outcomes for ethics, IPE/IPP, and social responsibility. This baseline information will be used for a future in‐depth study to aid in the development of strategies for articulating outcomes, guiding learning, and assessing performance in U.S. dental schools.

How are the social determinants of health being taught in dental education?

“…Holtzman and colleagues’ findings were of interest, as they identified that first‐year dental students recognized their responsibility for caring for the oral health of underserved people, but became increasingly uncertain about their own role in providing the care 44 . When asked about the relative importance of different elements of the dental curriculum, educators ranked clinical and technical competencies above the development of social responsibility and ethics when considering the importance of different curriculum elements 45 . This demonstrates the need for holistic and systematic integration of SDH into the curriculum as described by Tiwari et al., who suggested 3 domains of action: education; organization, and; community, which create a culture based on embedded values relating to SDH 46 .…”

“…If dental educators aspire to instill sensitivity within students towards the effects of the SDH upon oral health and general well‐being, the discourses that may be presently promulgated by faculty members and others involved in dental education need to be reflected upon. One of the challenges faced by those wishing to incorporate teaching on SDH in dental curricula is that social responsibility is positioned as the “poor relative” to clinical and technical learning 45 . The dental school environment is highly influential to student learning, with students understanding through the hidden curriculum what really matters to the school and the wider profession, providing students with insight into; “unwritten social and cultural values, rules, assumptions and expectations.” 56 Cultural competency and bias training are certainly important for dental students but should be provided to faculty members and qualified dental professionals as well 41,42,45 .…”

“…One of the challenges faced by those wishing to incorporate teaching on SDH in dental curricula is that social responsibility is positioned as the “poor relative” to clinical and technical learning 45 . The dental school environment is highly influential to student learning, with students understanding through the hidden curriculum what really matters to the school and the wider profession, providing students with insight into; “unwritten social and cultural values, rules, assumptions and expectations.” 56 Cultural competency and bias training are certainly important for dental students but should be provided to faculty members and qualified dental professionals as well 41,42,45 . Through the absence of SDH in curricula and assessments, enhanced by the relentless pursuit of clinical experience and numbers of procedures, students are sent a powerful message about what really matters.…”

Perception of Dermatology by Medical Students in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lomé (Togo)

“…La gynécologie et la cardiologie étaient les spécialités les plus envisagées par les étudiants interrogés; et seul 1% des étudiants envisageaient de faire la dermatologie. Plusieurs facteurs dont l'intérêt pour la spécialité, l'impact de la formation et de l'enseignement lors des stages hospitaliers pourraient influencer le choix de la spécialité [8,9].…”

A national window on critical thinking by dental educators following an ADEA webinar

“…Alternative approaches leading to learning guidance and performance assessment are largely lacking for critical thinking. Furthermore, the lack of confidence in learning guidance for critical thinking relative to knowledge and technical skills has been reported for experienced dental educators (American Dental Education Association [ADEA] Special Interest Group [SIG] on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) 3 …”