Leadbeatter D, Bell A
University of Sydney, Faculty of Dentistry Sydney, NSW, Australia.
University of Sydney, Sydney School of Education and Social Work Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Eur J Dent Educ. 2018 Aug;22(3):e468-e478. doi: 10.1111/eje.12327. Epub 2018 Feb 20.
Within higher education, there is increasing recognition that understanding the ways students experience the educational environment is critical to developing programmes that can educate our future professionals. There is a small body of literature about how students experience the dental educational environment; however, none that adopts a qualitative phenomenographic approach. This study aims to contribute to our understanding by asking what is the variation in the ways dental students experience their curriculum?
This study uses a phenomenographic methodology. Phenomenography investigates the variation in the way a group of people experience a situation, and how they ascribe meaning to it. Interviews were conducted with 14 senior dental students at the University of Sydney. Transcripts were analysed using a phenomenographic approach.
Six increasingly sophisticated, qualitatively distinct categories of description were identified from the collective of transcripts: surviving the education system; following a guide or manual, learning how to treat teeth, learning how to meet patient treatment needs, learning how to relate with patients and understanding the complexities of dental practice. The outcome space consists of ways the categories of description are related; considering interactions with teachers, ways of coping with multiple opinions and integration of disciplinary learning.
This study provides new insights into the multifaceted and relational ways that dental students experience their educational environment. It could point curriculum designers towards strategies that assist students develop sophisticated understandings about themselves as practitioners, patients and the complexities of dental practice. Suggestions about the practical implications of the findings of this research are given.
在高等教育领域，人们越来越认识到，了解学生体验教育环境的方式对于开发能够培养未来专业人才的课程至关重要。关于学生如何体验牙科教育环境的文献较少；然而，尚无采用定性现象学方法的研究。本研究旨在通过询问牙科学生体验其课程的方式有哪些差异来增进我们的理解。
本研究采用现象学方法。现象学研究一群人体验某种情况的方式的差异，以及他们如何赋予其意义。对悉尼大学的14名高年级牙科学生进行了访谈。使用现象学方法对访谈记录进行了分析。
从访谈记录中识别出六个越来越复杂、性质不同的描述类别：在教育体系中生存；遵循指南或手册，学习如何治疗牙齿，学习如何满足患者的治疗需求，学习如何与患者建立关系以及理解牙科实践的复杂性。结果空间包括描述类别之间的关联方式；考虑与教师的互动、应对多种意见的方式以及学科学习的整合。
本研究为牙科学生体验其教育环境的多方面和关联方式提供了新的见解。它可以为课程设计者指明策略，帮助学生对自己作为从业者、患者以及牙科实践的复杂性形成复杂的理解。给出了关于本研究结果实际意义的建议。
