Areas of activity

I am also involved in teaching of clinical practical skills within a phantom head suite. This involves practical demonstrations of clinical techniques using overhead projections. Students are given feedback and support with their practical techniques on a one to one basis. Students are encouraged to record feedback to assist in the organisation of self-directed learning.

I have arranged remedial theoretical and practical teaching for students who have resit examinations or have missed University due to ill health and other circumstances.

I am an examiner for all written examinations, observed structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and structured clinical operative tests (SCOT). I am also involved in the development of assessments such as OSCE stations and written questions on subjects I have been responsible for teaching.

I am collaborating with a colleague from the paediatric department to create a video resource for paediatric restorative module for Y2. This will involve recording demonstrations of restorative techniques that students can access in preparation for the practical skills tutorial. This will allow for more effective time management in the skills session with optimum time for students to practice and ask questions.

My role as a personal tutor gives me an opportunity to develop effective approaches to student guidance and support. I developed a “crib sheet” for PT staff members within the program to facilitate PT meetings.

I also regularly attend IAD courses that are relevant to my teaching on a variety of topics; top hat, adding humour to lectures and the learning and teaching conference 2018.

CPD for discipline/professional role are achieved within the 5 yearly cycle as set by the GDC. I am supported by senior staff to achieve all aspects of professional discipline CPD via patient cases, study days and attendance at conferences and courses.

As clinical educator I must maintain a registration with the GDC (General Dental Council) this involves specific CPD – 150 hours of verifiable (courses, conferences, etc.) within a 5-year cycle.   As clinical educator it is crucial that I keep up to date with current evidence based dental techniques and changes in legislation. This ensures that subject materials delivered are in alignment with current updates in legislation.

When setting questions for assessment I ensure content has been covered within the lectures and that questions have a relevance to “real life” practice, asking students to demonstrate their factual knowledge in response to patient variables. All examination questions are agreed and ratified by external examiners and colleagues to ensure they are appropriately set for academic level of the candidate.

I arrange a revision session for all year groups (often the year group allocated is the same as the PT year group). This allows students to clarify any misunderstandings with the tutor in a face to face setting prior to examinations and is an opportunity for students to share learning and studying techniques.

Reflective portfolio is a session I hold with a year group to discuss patient case management. Students bring details of cases they are currently treating on student clinics. As a group, the students share patient management techniques, communication strategies and research interesting medical or dental conditions that patients present with. In addition, students also develop their reflective skills, which they will be required to complete in their professional work post qualification.

Student staff liaison committee – is conducted once a semester and is an opportunity to review student feedback and discuss any issues and suggestions students to lecturer and vice versa. Students have a class representative to speak on their year groups behalf. I find the meetings are informative and students conduct themselves in a professional manner.

When teaching the discipline, particularly clinical practice and skills, I teach concepts under the assumption that students are seeing the content for the first time. Students enrol on the BSc programme that have a dental background such as dental nursing (mature students) and others matriculate immediately after finishing school studies. The students with previous dental experience do not have an advantage over those who do not, as the teaching materials and clinical practice time allocation is the same regardless of background. Students are also given extra support wherever required, this is often requested from both groups of students.

This year the dental institute has a new state of the art dental surgery with video recording and streaming equipment installed. I can now record treatment being carried out on a patient streamed live to a seminar room next door or can record for future reference. This tool can be used for teaching student’s patient management, communication as well as clinical techniques where it is not feasible to have several students peering over a patient during treatment. There is potential for this facility to be used for assessment in the future.

I value the feedback from students via evasys and the written midterm feedback. Midterm feedback is reviewed by the team and discussed with student representatives at our SSLC (student staff liaison committee) with future actions being trialled. Again, it is an opportunity for teaching techniques to be evaluated and effective strategies to be shared to improve the programme holistically for all students.

” The Review Team recommends that the Programme Team explores ways to facilitate broken appointment and gaps in clinical diaries created by patient non-attendance, for the further enhancement of student learning. [1.1.7].

When this situation has arisen, I have utilised the found teaching time to discuss recent lectures covered, give students scenarios such as medical emergencies or utilised the clinical skills room to practice techniques. There is also an opportunity for peer assisted learning and feedback, as students who have a failed appointment can observe their peers. It is an opportunity for students to share patient management techniques and give feedback in a professional and constructive manner, as would be expected of them as a clinician.

National Student Survey, midterm feedback and my yearly appraisal via (SOAR) is an opportunity to reflect on QA. Recording comments from colleagues, students and external staff is another opportunity to address any areas of my teaching that can be enhanced by further training.

In my role as lecturer and PT, I strive to be an approachable member of staff and encourage students to make contact when they are struggling with a concept; academic or personal. It is important to support students in establishing good studying techniques early on in their academic career through discussion in class sessions and one-to-one in PT meetings.

I encourage students to access support with their learning from the disability services. Students often do not realise there is support for a variety of difficulties. Diverse communities within student populations will present with diverse needs (from mental health conditions to visual impairments).

I have elected to complete the accessible and inclusive learning module for PGCAP. I have selected this course as I can identify that I lack experience and activity for this UKPSF dimension.

With enrolment on accessible and inclusive learning PGCAP course, I hope to learn techniques which I can further implement to support BSc OHS.

I am involved in the admissions process and the design of the MMIs (multiple mini interviews). Due to the vast number of applicants and only 10 spaces available, candidates are filtered down to around 70 interviews from the content in the UCAS application. MMI differs from the traditional panel interview, allowing candidates to demonstrate skills at several stations. This allows us to select candidates who demonstrate good communication skills, manual dexterity and traits that are desirable to the role of a dental hygiene therapist which can often be missed in a question-based panel interview.

I have selected the “research your teaching” module for PGCAP. The summative assessment requires me to draw up a research idea. I plan to look at implementing peer feedback in patient clinic on a trial basis. I will require student input and will invite BSc students to participate in data collection for this.

I have recently been approached to be a sub investigator for a clinical trial, this will be my first experience of the role. I plan to share my experience with colleagues and students, particularly final year students, to inspire them to consider research within their professional career.

I will continue to represent the University of Edinburgh at the Directors and Tutor group meetings. The group is formed of all school for teaching of DCPs (dental care professionals) in the UK. It is an opportunity to share pedagogy and discuss techniques and ideas for teaching and assessment.