Thursday afternoon I attended the SDEO (Scottish Dental Education Online) show and tell session at Edinburgh Dental Institute. The SDEO is a group made up of the four Scottish dental schools, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and funded by NES (NHS Education Scotland) and has been going since 2009.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen were first to present and Doug Bean began with introducing the SDEO website which was built and implemented by Aberdeen. The site uses Shibboleth login for authentication to access the learning resources. The resources can be accessed in 2 ways, through the ‘Learning Resources’ tab and the ‘Resources for Teachers’ tab.
The Learning Resources has 9 subject areas including Anatomy & Physiology and Dental Materials. Within these drop-down subject areas there are various topics. These topics are the courses, each one compiled by experts in those areas from the 4 dental schools. the ‘Resources for Teachers’ holds all the media contained in each of the topics which lecturers can use in their own teaching.
Aberdeen went on to discuss which topics they had been and are currently working on. One of these is ‘Writing Referral Letters’ which feedback can be added, designed for peer review. They also showed a Tooth Preparation topic to which the student can upload their own photographs and critically analyse their own procedures, for example comparing one they did 2 weeks earlier with a current procedure. Another topic Aberdeen have been creating is on Smile analysis and the Golden Ratio.
Dundee
Dundee previously focused on biology but Andrew Mason now mentioned they were moving towards more clinical practice topics. They aim to make their learning resources as interactive as possible including staff and students in content development. They have created a 3D skull from CT scans and data which includes individual bones and teeth. They have topics such as Jaw Reflexes and Electromyography and their upcoming topics will include Facial Fractures. Dundee are currently working on the Temporomandibular Joint and use of an Articulator. They have also been trialling with iBooks and have created a rotatable 3D tooth and quizzes.
Edinburgh
Although Edinburgh are no longer funded by the project they are still included as part of the group. Their last resources were created around 2011 and are all based on restorative dentistry. Oonagh Lawrie showed us topics which include The Gingival Margin, Making a Good Alginate Impression, Matrices and Rubber Dam these are all supported by a large number of photographs and detailed video of the procedures. Edinburgh did a trial on their resources to see if the they improved their students making of casts. Half the students were shown Making a Good Alginate Impression before they made their casts and the other half were not. The group of students who had looked at the resource beforehand were significantly better than those who hadn’t.
Glasgow
Ziad Al-Ani from Glasgow talked about the resources they have created, including Tooth Morphology, Radiographic Techniques, Safe Use of Handpieces and Management of Sharp Injury to name but a few and mentioned where all their resources were being used in their teaching. Their resources are made up of lectures, photographs, video and voice-overs. They have also created a 2D version of Tooth Morphology designed for use on tablets and have received good feedback from students.
DDS
DDS (Digital Design Studio) Glasgow were also demonstrating their 3D Head and Neck also funded by NES. The head and neck are fully interactive with muscle veins and bone which can be removed and added, as well as rotated. They also had an expert assist with building the parts of the inner ear, and also have detailed eyes for potential uses in Ophthalmology.