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Mentoring Future Dental Educators Through an Apprentice Teaching Experience
Author(s) -
Bibb Carol A.,
Lefever Karen H.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2002.66.6.tb03549.x
Subject(s) - apprenticeship , economic shortage , curriculum , medical education , dental hygiene , psychology , medicine , dentistry , pedagogy , philosophy , linguistics , government (linguistics)
To address concerns about the growing shortage of dental educators, the UCLA School of Dentistry initiated an elective course to introduce fourth‐year students to issues in academic dentistry and to provide an apprentice teaching experience. Participants in the elective (referred to as student teachers) developed a microcourse entitled “Welcome to Dental Anatomy,” presented to incoming first‐year students during orientation week. Under the guidance of faculty mentors, the student teachers were responsible for development of course content, teaching aids, and evaluation methodology. Two cycles of the elective have been completed, reaching a total of twenty‐one fourth‐year students to date. The positive impact on student teachers and incoming first‐year students indicates that this approach has great potential for encouraging more graduates to pursue careers in academic dentistry. In addition, the program has the potential to be expanded by adaptation to other foundational courses in the dental and dental hygiene curricula.