Sarah C. Jackson, RDH, MSDH, is Associate Professor, Dental Hygiene Department, Eastern Washington University; Lisa A. Bilich, RDH, CHSE, MS, is Professor, Dental Hygiene Department, Eastern Washington University; and Nathan Skuza, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Economics Department, Eastern Washington University.
J Dent Educ. 2018 Dec;82(12):1279-1286. doi: 10.21815/JDE.018.134.
Most often, members of the dental team are educated in separate programs. These professionals then come together in practice to work as a team, often with limited knowledge about each other's roles. The aim of this study was to assess the perspectives of dental and dental hygiene students regarding collaborative learning after taking two courses together. Five years (2010-14) of survey data were collected from a convenience sample of dental and dental hygiene students. The dental hygiene students were in their first and second years (DH1 and DH2) at Eastern Washington University (EWU). The dental students were in the University of Washington (UW) Regional Initiative in Dental Education (RIDE) program, taking their first year of courses in Eastern Washington with EWU's dental hygiene and UW's medical students. Eight first-year dental (D1) students participate in the RIDE program each year, totaling 40 across the five years. Because the same D1 students take both courses, this target population was 80. The number of DH1 and DH2 students in these courses ranges from 32-36 each year, for a target population of 323 across the five years. A total of 193 survey responses were collected, for an overall response rate of 48%; the D1 response rate was 72%, and the DH response rate was 42%. In the results, students perceived that learning collaboratively helped them think positively about other dental professionals, benefitted their problem-solving skills, increased their understanding of clinical problems, helped them become better team members, improved trust and respect, and improved their understanding of course content. These results suggest that collaborative learning had a positive impact on both groups. In comments, students suggested they would benefit from more shared learning experiences in the clinic and agreed that collaborative learning would help them create a more cohesive team.
通常，牙科团队的成员在不同的项目中接受教育。这些专业人员然后在实践中聚在一起作为一个团队工作，往往彼此之间对对方的角色知之甚少。本研究的目的是评估牙科和牙科卫生学生在共同修读两门课程后对协作学习的看法。从东华盛顿大学（EWU）的牙科和牙科卫生学生的便利样本中收集了五年（2010-14 年）的调查数据。牙科卫生学生处于第一年和第二年（DH1 和 DH2）。牙科学生参加了华盛顿大学（UW）区域牙科教育倡议（RIDE）课程，与 EWU 的牙科卫生学生和 UW 的医学生一起在东华盛顿大学修读第一年的课程。每年有 8 名一年级牙科（D1）学生参加 RIDE 计划，五年总计 40 名。由于同一批 D1 学生修读这两门课程，因此目标人群为 80 人。这些课程中 DH1 和 DH2 学生的人数每年在 32-36 人之间，五年总计目标人群为 323 人。共收集了 193 份调查回复，回复率为 48%；D1 的回复率为 72%，DH 的回复率为 42%。在结果中，学生认为协作学习有助于他们对其他牙科专业人员持积极态度，有益于他们解决问题的能力，增加他们对临床问题的理解，帮助他们成为更好的团队成员，增进信任和尊重，并提高他们对课程内容的理解。这些结果表明协作学习对两个群体都产生了积极的影响。在评论中，学生表示他们希望在诊所中获得更多共享的学习经验，并同意协作学习将帮助他们创建更具凝聚力的团队。
