Demonstration of Collaborative Teaching Using Educational Technologies

Objective: Demonstrate how to incorporate various education technologies into dental courses to facilitate learning styles common to dental applicants including auditory, kinesthetic and visual.

Methods: Collaborative teaching method utilizing multiple educational technologies to teach dental anatomy will be shown. A printed textbook is replaced with a CD-ROM, including various interactive models, exercises, and quizzes to supplement lectures. Interactive lectures used media presentations, super-size model teeth, graphic displays, and two instructors to highlight anatomy in different formats during each presentation. A course management system was used to post presentations, announcements, assignments and study guides prior to lectures. Weekly assessments, asynchronous threaded discussions and online grades provided immediate feedback to student and instructor. Discussions included a question per week which paralleled the lecture theme giving practical application of the topic to their daily lives. This increased the breadth and depth of students' exposure to dental anatomy. Lab exercises which solidified the didactic information, both visually and tactilely will be shown. One exercise had students become teachers to small groups of classmates. Students took turns to intensely study a particular tooth, then present the unique identifying features of the tooth anatomy and morphology using visual aids of their own creation.

Results: Student presenters stated the laboratory exercise helped to strengthen their knowledge, while encouraging their creativity. Their results on quizzes and laboratory assessments improved from previous classes. Students in the initial class using this collaborative educational technology method will take National Boards March 2006.

Conclusion: The use of technology is expanding in education and dental practice. A solid foundation in Dental Anatomy is also essential. The collaborative use of technology in learning assists in facilitating each student's particular learning style while seeking to prepare students to be successful clinicians in dentistry.