The COVID-19 pandemic forced dental programs which had only ever been face to face to quickly move to online instruction in order to complete the 20/21 school year. With this sudden shift to online learning, institutions re-evaluated the previously held notion that dental programs could never be taught online because students needed face to face instruction to develop competent clinical skills and the necessary communication skills to have close personal face to face interactions with their patients.
In 2030, blended or hybrid dental programs have become the norm allowing dental students increased flexibility to do a portion of their studies from home. However, moving to this model required learning institutions to rely on the steady, reliable nature of the LMS as described by Weller (2020) which led to an increased use of learning analytics. With learning analytics, Pelletier et al., (2021) explain that institutions were able to harness the data to respond to student needs early by identifying those who exhibited low engagement or did not perform well on early assessments. By doing so, institutions were able to ensure that there was little to no attrition within cohorts, With the gathering of all this student data issues arose issues of whether it was legal, ethical or both. Zijlstra-Shaw & Stokes (2018) state, “the issue of what is essential data for tracking learner performance and what is data captured because it is available and might be useful in the future presents an issue for the ethical and informed use of student data” (e659). By 2030, institutions had worked through some of the challenges faced early on with the push to blended or hybrid dental programs.
References
Pelletier, K., Brown, M., Brooks, D. C., McCormack, M., Reeves, J., Arbino, N., Bozkurt, A., Crawford, S., Czerniewicz, L., Gibson, R., Linder, K., Mason, J., & Mondelli, V. (2021). 2021 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report Teaching and Learning Edition.
Weller, M. (2020). 25 Years of Ed Tech. Athabasca University Press.
Zijlstra-Shaw, S., & Stokes, C. W. (2018). Learning analytics and dental education; choices and challenges. European journal of dental education: official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe, 22(3), e658-e660.
Hi Gail!
Thanks for a lovely first sneak peak at your essay! I am curious to read more about what you discover about the ethics behind data collection. From what I have read there seems to be a divide on what data should be collected and not only what data should be collected but more importantly, how will the data be used. When reading “What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction” they created a scenario where a student faced academic consequences because they scored above the 30% deviation that was allotted to them based on previous scores. I think that is crazy! they have boxed a student into a category and determined their academic success for the student. Im also curious how this will apply to dental programs? I am also curious to know if you think the shift to hybrid/online learning will benefit the dental field or provide more challenges?
Thanks for sharing!
London
Hi London,
Thank you for your comments and question. Yes, i too was surprised by the same point you mentioned and wondered if this really could be a possibility in the future. In dental programs, there is a lot of support for students who are struggling in the program as institutions would prefer to have little to no attrition in the cohorts.
I wish that there had been a hybrid model when I was going through my program. There were some really long days and for some of my peers very long commutes to the campus. I am hearing from my connections that hybrid models are happening right now and that there is a strong possibility that it will continue. Perhaps in the future, it might open up the possibilities of higher students enrolment, however, the challenge would be to find clinic time and space to accommodate larger cohorts.
Thanks, Gail
Hi Gail,
I really enjoyed your post. I was able to imagine very clearly what the hybrid model would be like. Do you feel that this could be a reality in the near future? Or do you feel that the College of Dental Surgeons would be open to these futures. In my organization, I feel we are always a little slow for making change.
Looking forward to reading more.
Sam
Hi Sam,
Yes, i believe that this will be the norm. I am hearing that some institutions went to this model for this school year as they saw the benefits and that it was possible. There is currently a shortage of dental assistants and hygienists so the College of Dental Surgeons of BC and the British Columbia Dental Association would be most interested in ways to increase the number of new grads. The challenge is to find clinic time and space to accommodate more students.
Thanks,