A Rapid Transition to Blended Learning
The Journey of a Dental Degree Programme Pivoting Online
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v9i2.475Keywords:
Collaborative learning, Co-production, Dental education, Flipped classroom, Social contructivismAbstract
The University of Glasgow Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree programme is a practical clinical professionally regulated discipline. Given the mode of transmission of SARS Cov-2 the dental profession and associated programmes of study have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating a rapid pivot to online and blended learning. This case study shows how the work of early adopters of technology enhanced learning and teaching (TELT) at the dental school, and a timely staff-student partnership helped to lay the foundations for this pivot in response to the challenges brought about by the pandemic.
A large amount of teaching required modification and adaptation to support remote delivery and, through collaboration, innovation and supported creativity, we were able to produce some very effective models for learning and teaching. To illustrate this, two specific examples have been presented: a novel approach to support the delivery of essential local anaesthesia training for second year dental students using collaborative wikis and online learning; and the use Microsoft Teams to support student integration and a sense of community among our first year dental students through active, small group collaborative learning.
The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have provided the opportunity to align the teaching of practical skills with technology and instil a positive shift in institutional practices. The effectiveness of this shift within the BDS degree programme and the impact on the development of our students will remain the focus of the school’s TELT partnership.
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Akcaoglu, M. and Lee, E. (2016). Increasing Social Presence in Online Learning through Small Group Discussions. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Volume 17, Number 3.
Augar, N, Raitman, R and Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. In: Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference, Perth, 5-8 December 2004, ASCILITE, pp. 95-104. Available from: https://www.ascilite.org/conferences/perth04/procs/pdf/augar.pdf.
Bergmann, J., Sams, A. Flip your classroom: reach every student in every class every day. ISTE-ASCD, 2012
Biasutti, M. (2017). A comparative analysis of forums and wikis as tools for online collaborative learning. Computers & Education, 111, pp.158–171.
Biggs, J., 2003. Aligning teaching for constructing learning. Higher Education Academy, pp.1-4.
Boling, E.C., Hough, M., Krinsky, H., Saleem, H., Stevens, M. (2012) Cutting the distance in distance education: Perspectives on what promotes positive, online learning experiences. The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 15, Issue 2, Pages 118-126 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.11.006
Burgess, A. and Ramsey-Stewart, G. (2014). Elective anatomy by whole body dissection course: what motivates students?. BMC Medical Education, 14(1), pp.272.
Cameron, D., McKerlie, R., & Mathew, B. 2006 Oct 28. A comparison of teaching methods for teaching dental technology to undergraduate dental students: a pilot study. PESTLHE 1(2): 73-93, 2006.
Crothers, A., Bagg, J. & McKerlie, R. (2017) The Flipped Classroom for pre-clinical dental skills teaching – a reflective commentary. British Dental Journal 222б 709–713.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York, USA: Macmillan Company.
Driscoll, Adam, Jicha, Karl, Hunt, Andrea N., Tichavsky, Lisa, Thompson, Gretchen. 2012. “Can Online Courses Deliver In-Class Results? A Comparison of Student Performance and Satisfaction in an Online Versus a Face-to-Face Introductory Sociology Course.” Teaching Sociology 40(4):312–31.
Exley, K. and Dennick, R. (2004) Small group teaching: tutorials, seminars and beyond. Abingdon: Routledge Falmer. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203465066
Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T. and Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), pp.87–105.
Gunawardena,C, N,. Hermans, M, B,. Sanchez, D., Richmond, C., Bohley, M., & Tuttle, R. (2009) A theoretical framework for building online communities of practice with social networking tools, Educational Media International, 46:1, 3-16.
Hamann, K., Pollock, P, H., & Wilson, B., M. (2012) Assessing Student Perceptions of the Benefits of Discussions in Small-Group, Large-Class, and Online Learning Contexts, College Teaching, 60:2, 65-75, DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2011.633407
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey, USA: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Kowalczyk, N.K. 2014, "Perceived barriers to online education by radiologic science educators.", Radiologic technology, vol. 85, no. 5, pp. 486-493.
Lambropoulos, N., Faulkner, X. and Culwin, F. (2012), Supporting social awareness in collaborative e‐learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43: 295-306. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01184.x
Maslow, A.H., 1943. A theory of human motivation. Psychological review, 50(4), p.370-396.
https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346
Mayer, R.E. (2017). Using Multimedia for e-learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 33, 403-423.
Mayer, R.E. (2019). Thirty years of research on online learning. Appl Cognit Psychol., 33:152–159
McCulloch, A. (2009). The student as co-producer: Learning from public administration about the student-university relationship. Studies in Higher Education, 34(2), 171-183. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070802562857
McKerlie, R. A., Rennie, E., Hudda, S., McAllan, W., Al-Ani, Z., McLean, W., & Bagg, J. (2018). Facilitation of student-staff partnership in development of digital learning tools through a special study module. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(1), 121-129. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i1.3235
McLeod, S. (2018). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs [online resource]. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html [accessed on 01 March 2021].
Microsoft (2020) Welcome to Microsoft Teams [online] Available at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-overview. [Accessed 01 March 2021].
Mills, D. and Alexander, P (2013). Small group teaching: a toolkit for learning. The Higher Education Academy.
Nordmann E, Horlin C, Hutchison J, Murray J-A, Robson L, Seery MK, et al. (2020). Ten simple rules for supporting a temporary online pivot in higher education. PLoS Comput Biol 16(10): e1008242. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008242.
Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace: Effective strategies for the online classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. pp29.
Phillips, J.A., Schumacher, C. & Arif, S. 2016, "Time Spent, Workload, and Student and Faculty Perceptions in a Blended Learning Environment.", American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, vol. 80, no. 6, pp. 102.
Rovai, A. P. (2002). Building sense of community at a distance. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/79/152
Salmon, Gilly. E-Tivities : The Key to Active Online Learning, p46 Taylor & Francis Group, 2013.
Smith, S.U., Hayes, S., & Shea, P (2017). A critical review of the use of Wenger's Community of Practice (CoP) theoretical framework in online and blended learning research, 2000- 2014, Online Learning 21(1), 209-237
Steffe, L. and Gale, J. (1995). Constructivism in education. New Jersey, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Terrell, M. (2006). Anatomy of learning: Instructional design principles for the anatomical sciences. The Anatomical Record Part B: The New Anatomist, 289(6), pp.252–260.
University of Glasgow (2020). Graduate attributes framework [online]. Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_183776_smxx.pdf [accessed on 01 March 2021].
University of Glasgow (2021a). Remote and blended teaching – Glasgow’s 7 principles of remote and blended teaching [online]. Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/anywhere/blendedteaching/ [accessed on 04 March 2021].
University of Glasgow (2021b). Learning and Teaching Strategy 2021 – 2025. Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_775156_smxx.pdf [accessed on 15 March 2021].
Vygotskij, L.S. and Cole, M. (1978). LS Vygotsky. Mind in society. The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, USA: Harvard University Press. Wenger E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organisation, 7(2), 225-246.
Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of practice and social learning systems: The career of a concept. In C. Blackmore (Ed.), Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice (pp. 179–198). London: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-84996-133-2.
Wenger, E., White, N., Smith, J.D., Rowe, K. (2005). Technology for communities. In L. Langelier (Ed.), Working, learning and collaborating in a network: Guide to the implementation and leadership of intentional communities of practice (pp. 71–94).
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