Woodstock Ambulatory Service
Student Teacher Program
at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine
May 2005
Tufts University
School of Dental Medicine
INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, as dental schools have been facing faculty shortages, one of the long-term solutions has been creation of programs that mentor dental students who are interested in teaching careers. Since 2000 Tufts University School of Dental Medicine has pioneered a student teaching program adapted from an original tutorial program. 82% of those who participate in an selective, 4th year student teaching program each year say they are interested in a career in faculty teaching and credit this program with practical, hands-on experience. By providing positive experiences, Tufts has developed a model that is flexible and may be adapted by other dental schools to grow their own faculty for the future.
BACKGROUND
Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM), located in the heart of downtown Boston, is known throughout the world for its leadership in clinical dental education, dental materials research, and its contributions to underserved communities. The school was founded in 1868 as Boston Dental College, incorporated into Tufts College in 1899, and gained its official name in 1956 when Tufts College became Tufts University.
The school's mission is to provide education to a diverse population of pre- and post-doctoral students and to prepare them for dental practice in the 21st century, by offering them unique experience with various patient populations, dental specialties, and practice settings. The success of TUSDM is based on a strong commitment to education, research and the community at large. The school's responsibility in dental education extends beyond the transfer of knowledge and perfection of clinical skill to include principles of ethics, professionalism, and citizenship.
Tufts’ School of Dental Medicine offers a four-year doctor of dental medicine (DMD) program and accepts 150 students from the more than 2100 applicants who apply each year. Tufts also offers an advanced standing DMD program for foreign-trained dentists who seek U.S. dental licensure. In keeping with the international scope of Tufts University, the School has educational exchange programs in Europe and the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy, Austria, Germany and France, among others.
FUTURE FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Tufts University School of Dental Medicine’s Future Faculty Development Program (FFDP) for advanced Year 4 students was initiated in 2000 with a goal of enabling select students to participate in clinical and didactic teaching experiences. Our goal is to cultivate in outstanding students an interest in teaching as a career option.
The TUSDM Future Faculty Development Program (FFDP) for advanced Year 4 students was initiated in 2000. It has been designed to enable select students to participate in limited clinical and didactic teaching experiences as a way of cultivating an interest in teaching as a career option. In addition, Teaching Assistants get paid for the time they participate in the program.
In order to be eligible for participation, students must meet the following criteria:
· They should have a demonstrated interest in teaching.
· They must have passed National Boards Part I and II and have completed two-thirds of their graduation requirements
· They must have demonstrated ethical and professional behavior.
· Students must be recommended by their Practice Coordinators and/or by relevant course or program faculty.
Student Teaching Assistants are assigned to work in one or more of the following areas:
Emergency Clinic: The goal of this program is to improve and enhance the teaching and learning of the Year 3 students during their emergency clinic rotation. Under the supervision of Emergency Clinic Faculty, TAs assist the Year 3 student in taking medical and dental histories, in addressing a patient's complaint, and in designing the treatment plan.
Group Practice: The goal of this program is to utilize advanced TAs to assist clinic faculty with the supervision/training of Year 3 and Year 4 students within the TA’s respective group practice that are falling behind in their clinical progress, and would benefit from close 1 to 1 supervision. Other responsibilities of the TA are to help with paperwork, patient management, time management, scheduling patients, fee collection, knowing when to discontinue a patient, learning how to get beyond the XMRT, helping the treatment to be finished at that visit, conducting infection control audits, helping students to be organized, improving patient communication or organizing laboratory work, and provide workshop training for students just entering the Clinic in understanding the ins and outs of our digital record keeping system. TAs receive instruction from faculty in how to evaluate student competencies in various areas.
Preclinical Courses: Similar to the above, the goal of this program is to utilize advanced students to assist preclinical faculty with the supervision/training of Year 1 and 2 students in the preclinical lab courses. Under the supervision of the preclinical faculty member monitoring the student teaching assistants’ group, the TA helps to demonstrate the “how-to” of the procedure/project being worked on during the preclinical session, and provides preliminary feedback to the students prior to submission of their projects for faculty approval. In addition, TAs tutor students during class and outside of class hours who are not performing well, or those who are having difficulties with concepts. TAs receive instruction in how practicals and projects are graded, and how to work with students having difficulty.
Oral & Maxillofacial Radiology: Oral & Maxillofacial Radiology TAs guide and assist, if needed, the students while they are imaging patients. The TA helps perform panoramic and cephalometric imaging and assists with film mounting done by students in rotation.
Didactic Courses: Developed as an offshoot of our extensive peer tutoring program, the Didactic TA program is meant to give the student more formalized teaching experience through faculty mentoring, lecturing experience, and exam preparation. Dental school teaching often combines both clinic floor and classroom responsibilities, thus it is important to provide exceptional students with both types of learning experiences. These TAs are given major responsibility for providing the tutorial assistance for failed students prior to reexamination. Finally, TAs that have demonstrated exceptional capabilities in the above responsibilities are offered the opportunity to give one of the scheduled lectures in the class, and work closely with course faculty on how to put together a lecture, how to develop a Powerpoint presentation, and how to develop exam questions based on the content of their lecture.
Interpersonal Professional Skills Development:
Students in the teaching assistant program also participate in the admissions process and in mentoring/advising programs for first year students.
Interviewing: Students are provided with fundamental training in interviewing techniques by sitting in on and observing faculty interviewing applicants to our Dental School. After a few observational interviews, each of which was followed by discussion with the faculty mentor on the plusses and minuses of the interview just conducted, the student conducts a final interview with the faculty member present. The faculty member provides the student with a written evaluation of their interview techniques. Once a student has demonstrated they understand how to conduct an interview, these students may conduct interviews on their own. By being involved to this extent in admissions interviewing, students learn valuable interpersonal interview skills which should make them better prepared for entering the workplace, hiring office staff, etc.
Participation in Advising of First year Students: An often over looked yet valuable role of faculty is in the mentoring and advising of students as they work their way through the rigorous and demanding dental school curriculum. This past year we have established an advising/mentoring program for first year students that involve pairing a group of 8-10 students with a faculty member and a TA. These groups get together on a monthly basis and discuss issues related to being a student at Tufts. By working with and observing the faculty advisor, TAs gain perspective in the role that faculty play in a student’s personal and professional growth
Other student teacher training program opportunities: Participants in the student teacher training program are invited to attend special seminars offered by faculty on a variety of topics just for TAs. In past years, these topics have included: esthetic dentistry, occlusion, and nitrous oxide sedation. Additionally, participants were offered the chance to attend certain CE courses without cost, as well as participate in certain teaching effectiveness workshops that are part of the University wide faculty development effort.
Summary
Dental schools across the country are struggling with critical faculty shortages in all areas, and are under pressure to develop programs to address this need. The Future Faculty Development Program for advanced students at TUSDM represents our evolving effort to provide our students with value-added experiences that are designed not only to enhance their clinical expertise but also to also hopefully encourage some of our best students to consider teaching as a career alternative. We think it is unique compared to other future faculty development programs going on at other schools in its scope and breadth of training offered, and has the potential to serve as a model program for other schools to adopt. Furthermore, because our student body is one of the most diverse of all dental schools, and because our program can enroll as many as thirty students per year, it has a strong chance to increase the diversity of future faculty.
According to the results from our outcomes assessment study, our student teacher training program has been an overwhelming success. Student teaching assistants found the experience to be very positive, and the experience encouraged more than a few to consider more seriously a career in teaching. They overwhelmingly felt that they made a positive contribution to the training of the students they helped, and they enjoyed the privileges, status, and additional educational opportunities that came with participation in the program. Students that received assistance from TAs were overwhelmingly in favor of the program, and appreciated the additional time and help that TAs were able to give them compared to faculty.
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