dentistry

School of Dentistry
http://www.cwru.edu/dental/dent.html

Summary submitted by Associate Dean Tim Whittingham, tsw@po.cwru.edu member of the University Committee on Distance Learning

Status of Distance Learning

There is currently little or no application of distance learning taking place in the CWRU School of Dentistry. However, there are several situations at the school which would be improved by distance learning. The best example would be how the School is preparing to deal with its need for didactic instructors in Pediatric Dentistry.

Last year (1996-97) the School reimbursed three faculty members from the University of Pittsburgh to drive to Cleveland to offer a course in Pediatric Dentistry. A similar arrangement will take place this year, and the School is considering whether at least part of the instruction could take place by way of distance learning technologies. The potential for bringing subject matter experts to our students without the need to physically relocate those experts is an exciting concept, and one that is likely to become increasingly more common in dental education in the future.

Similarly, the School’s Continuing Education program would benefit in two ways: 1) by being able to diversify its current offerings by having some distant instructors incorporated into its offerings, and 2) by allowing the program to reach a larger (off-site) audience through distance learning technologies.

Planning Issues

Distance learning encompasses more than the two-way audiovisual connections that would be used in the above scenarios. Once again, the School of Dentistry has not incorporated these other aspects into our educational process to any large extent, but must do so in the near future. While the school has a Web page, there is very little in it. Course notes and assignments could be incorporated, as could board exam preparation reviews and electronic bulletin boards. All of these possibilities would facilitate student learning by making instructional materials available to them at any time, and from many locations.

While the possibilities listed above are exciting, it will take a considerable effort on the part of the School to implement them. Resources, including network access, student access to computers, and the time, technology, and expertise needed to produce quality educational offerings must be obtained. The School is currently trying to identify methods for obtaining these resources, possibly including joint efforts between the School of Dentistry and others (e.g., the School of Nursing) to construct shared distance learning facilities. It will also require central assistance and guidance at the University level, especially in providing expertise in training faculty and in putting distance learning into operation in the School of Dentistry.

Video link replaces commuting for pediatric dentistry faculty

By Judith Bailey, from Campus News, September 11, 1997

For the second consecutive year, faculty from the University of Pittsburgh are teaching pediatric dentistry at the CWRU School of Dentistry, but teleconferencing replaced commuting this fall when the school launched its first venture in distance learning.

Instead of making the four- to five-hour round-trip to Cleveland, faculty members from UP's School of Dentistry are teaching the class from Pittsburgh via interactive teleconferences. For each session, CWRU's third-year dental students gather in Baker Building room L5, one of CWRU's University electronic classrooms that allow two-way video and voice communication with remote sites.

The room's 75 student desks, including 35 with microphones, face two large projection screens. One screen provides color video of the lecture from Pittsburgh (including accompanying charts, pictures or other graphics), while the second depicts the CWRU classroom view being sent concurrently to Pittsburgh.

The classroom view can be either an overview of the students at their desks, a close-up of a student asking a question, or the front of the classroom, including the two projection screens and a control center desk in between.

Students can interrupt the lecture as needed, just as in an ordinary classroom, notes Tim Whittingham, associate dean for academic affairs. When a hand goes up, Whittingham uses an electronic touch-pad unit at the control center to alert the lecturer that a question is coming. The student clicks on the microphone, asks the question,and clicks off to listen to the response. Two video monitors at the control center allow Whittingham to monitor the projection screens behind him. By tapping the touch pad unit, he can control which classroom view is sent to Pittsburgh.

The course began August 15 with a half-day of “in person” introductory lectures at CWRU to give faculty and students an opportunity to get acquainted. At the first three-hour interactive session on August 21, Dennis Ranalli, professor of pediatric dentistry at UP, discussed growth and development of children for the first 50-minute session. After a 10-minute break, UP Associate Professor Margaret Elliott delivered two 50-minute lectures on the use of fluorides in pediatric dentistry.

“I thought it went really well, and the students did, too," Whittingham said, although a few felt that words or numbers on some slides were too small to read. But compared to last year, when the course was taught on campus in six-hour lecture sessions, it's a big improvement, he added. ”It’s not only hard physically to sit that long, but it’s hard to stay focused on the topic.”

The electronic teaching is less grueling for the Pittsburgh professors, too, compared to last year's six hours of teaching sandwiched between two-hour commutes. “Even though two or three professors would take turns lecturing at each session, it was a long day for them,” Whittingham observed.

Besides Ranalli and Elliott, the team features Associate Professor Deborah Studen-Pavlovich, Assistant Professor Angela Stout, and Associate Professor Ken Etzel. All have adjunct appointments at CWRU.

Scenarios
Table of Contents