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I began my academic career as an early childhood education major.  After turning my sights toward dental hygiene, I did so with the idea that I would work in a learning institution.  Teaching has been a lifelong passion, and I have personally connected with quite a bit of the materials presented in DH 6100 and 7100.  Last semester, I fashioned a very humanistic philosophy of education. Having an empathetic approach to teaching is characterized by leaner-centeredness where the aim is to not only develop a student’s cognitive capabilities but nurture emotions and feelings, promote critical thinking, and enhance emotional intelligence.  Throughout DH 6100, my goal for students began to move beyond cognitive and intellectual expansion to address the education of the whole person.  This semester in DH 7100, I was introduced to various educational techniques that align with my personal philosophy.  Throughout our reading assignments, I also contemplated what it means to be a learner, as having this awareness may augment my effectiveness as a teacher.  For me, a committed learner must have some sort of creativity sense, recall upon previously learned information for personal problem-solving, be open-minded when presented with new material, and commit to academic excellence (module 2, Innovative Teaching).  Education is meant to amplify a student’s existing abilities, perplex students by provoking real questions, and offer guidance throughout the process of discovery (modules 4 and 5, Active Learning).  Challenging students to figure out what it means to be a learner, much like I did throughout this semester, will actively engage a deeper process of learning further than hear-see-memorize.  Students who develop a strong sense of self and a personal understanding of what it means for them to be a learner will exercise critical thinking, weigh evidence objectively, are open to other perspectives, and can reflect analytically on their own assumptions (modules 1, 5, and 9—Innovative Teaching, Active Learning, The Syllabus).  Without guess, I will carry the techniques, ideas, and values put forth in the aforementioned modules into my academic career.

I, personally, found module 9 and the syllabus assignment beneficial.  I connected with this material because we students were not simply constructing the template for a class.  Thought, energy, the innovative techniques we have been reading about this semester, and even a touch of our personalities go into the design of a syllabus.  A properly constructed syllabus reflects the empathetic and humanistic approach I developed last semester while outlining the teaching methods I learned in this course.  A personal goal is to take what I have learned in module 9 and all of DH 7100 to help students develop a strong sense of self.  Students who have a sense of self and a personal understanding of what it means for them to be a learner are more likely to exercise critical thinking, weigh evidence objectively, are open to other perspectives, and can reflect analytically on their own assumptions.

Thank you, Irina, for the wonderful instruction throughout this course.  You reflect so many of the philosophies expressed in this essay.  I appreciate your example and your guidance.

Education is vital to the social, political and economic development of any nation; therefore, effective teaching is essential. Strategies for implementing technology in the classroom are important because, in this quickly changing world, educators must remain modern with their approach in helping students progress from one level to another in a more sociable interactive environment. We, as educators, are never perfect but must strive to bring out the best in each student and ultimately nurture one into being an independent thinker.  While this is no easy task, resources for both students and teachers do exist.

MedEdPORTAL is an open-access journal of teaching and learning resources for students and teachers in various health professions and a resource I can see myself, as a future educator, using.  While many open-access journals cater to the medical community and have limited relevance to dental practitioners, MedEdPORTAL is in partnership with the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). MedEdPORTAL is committed to providing quality and researched-based clinical and educational materials as all publications have been evaluated with medical or dental trainees or practitioners. Prior to publication, each submission is externally peer reviewed and evaluated by an editorial staff.¹

Excellent clinicians utilize evidence-based practice methods; likewise, effective educators employ evidence-based teaching modalities. This learning and teaching resource is not only supported by ADEA but also  complies with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.^1,2

Technology is everywhere in institutions of higher education and used in every part of life. Practically every job uses some form of technology, and dental hygiene is no exception. It is important for students to learn how to use technology in order to function in this technology-based country; conversely, it is important for educators to implement technology within their curriculum.

Resources:

1. Journal Information [Internet]. [cited 2020 Apr 9]. Available from: https://www.mededportal.org/about/journalinformation/
2. Generation Z Thrives on Mobile Learning as the First Digital Native Generation [Internet]. [cited 2020 Apr 9]. Available from: https://www.adea.org/BDEBlog.aspx?id=23499&blogid=27619

Assessment is a systematic process of collecting, interpreting, and acting on information relating to students’ learning outcomes.  Most important, assessments must align with class and program goals and outcomes that were developed to support the institution’s mission and purpose.  Assessment begins with the expression of expected learning outcomes. Declaring measurable outcomes that aligns with course/program goals and objectives involves describing the outcome, the assessment method, and criteria for success.  This week’s reading (GALO), however, advises one to differentiate between types of learning outcomes.  Educators must consider both learning outcomes along with program outcomes. Learning outcomes describe what students are expected to demonstrate and program outcomes describe what a program is expected to accomplish.  Currently, the commission on dental accreditation (CODA), is the third party responsible for verifying the quality of a program’s methods of assessment.

Dental hygiene is unique in that, different than the humanities, it not only commands a certain amount of critical thinking but also high levels of psychomotor skills.  Given the vast array of different knowledge required of a hygienists—problem solving, pharmacology, radiographic interpretation, nutrition, hand skills, etc.—multiple forms of assessment must be implemented.  As previously mentioned, assessments must first and foremost align with course and program objectives.  Issuing a limited-response quiz may not be appropriate for verifying clinical skills regarding sealant placement.  Second, assessments that demonstrate a higher order of more complex thinking are preferred.  Essays, projects, appropriate games, and presentations offer both formative and summative forms of assessment with a greater level of taxonomy than multiple-choice and “true or false” questions.  Last, assessment must prepare the dental hygiene student to test for licensure.  Course content, program objectives, CODA standards, and assessments should posture a student for success while completing both the written and clinical board exams.  While the NBDHE is presented in multiple-choice format, issuing multiple-choice exams throughout a program does not necessarily generate preparedness among students.  Assessments that require a higher order of thinking groom competence, complex understanding, the ability to synthesize, and the ability to critically think.  For example, a student capable of issuing a PowerPoint presentation (high order of taxonomy) on the four major steps of pharmacokinetics could theoretically pass a multiple-choice quiz (lower order of taxonomy) regarding the same subject matter. I am not arguing that a multiple-choice examination or other select-response questions have no place in pedagogy. GALO chapter 5 states that, “When written effectively, the multiple-choice format can be used to assess a wide range of learning outcomes across all cognitive levels.” Simply, it is my belief that a constructed-response format is a more accurate way to assess learning and a student’s ability to actually apply knowledge.  As an educator I might reserve selected-response assessments as pre-tests, practice-test, or mock-exams for board review.

Learning outcomes describe what students can demonstrate in terms of knowledge and skills upon completion of a course or dental hygiene program. Clear articulation of learning outcomes that align with the course and program serves as the foundation to evaluating the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process.  Educators must express performance criteria in specific and measurable terms. It is my belief that grades alone do not provide adequate feedback to students’ performance as grades represent overall competency (or simply one’s ability to “make the mark”) and do not identify strengths and weaknesses regarding specific learning outcomes. If the grading system, however, is closely tied to rubrics, it can be a useful tool to identify areas for improvement that should be addressed.  Executing multiple forms of assessments that are subject-appropriate is ideal.  Practicums are fitting for clinical assessment while projects, presentations, and essays are relevant for didactic coursework. Constructing assessments that demonstrate critical thinking and a higher order of thinking require the instructor to critically think.  Quality assessments are essential for the validity of a course or program; therefore, creativity, reasoning, and research-supported teaching methods are needed.

Universities are seeing greater numbers of students transitioning from a traditional classroom to an online learning environment. Regarding face-to-face learning in the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom and online coursework, there are both similarities and differences. If quality is maintained and learning expectations are not compromised, both online learning and traditional learning require a great amount of work.  Giving and receiving feedback is imperative in both environments.  The challenges and rewards are comparable.  Both online and traditional learning require astute time management.  While this week’s assigned reading from the US Department of Education shows online students slightly outperforming their traditional classroom counterparts, most studies indicate that there is little difference in overall performance between the two formats.  Differences do exist. Online learning includes both synchronous and asynchronous learning where traditional coursework requires students and teachers meet at a designated time. Online learning requires more self-direction and discipline from the students as teachers recognizably relinquish a certain level of control.  Feedback in a face-to-face classroom is instantaneous and arrives as questions are asked, where with distance learning feedback and answers take time.  In an online learning environment, students are equal as there are not any face-to-face interactions that would give another more vocal student the advantage. The distance learning modality also provides certain benefits and challenges.  Online classes offer flexibility—a huge advantage for working adults, parents, and other non-traditional students.  Students attend classes from the place that works best for them whether that be a coffee shop, library, or their bedroom.  Learners can instantly access course materials, schedules, assignments, and lessons.  Students are allotted more time to ask questions while instructors have more time to formulate appropriate responses.  Geographically disadvantaged students have access to a quality education and often the opportunity to work with globally diverse learners. Despite these benefits, there are challenges to distance learning modalities. Online learning requires strong time management skills and self-motivation.  Online learning favors technically savvy students where those less familiar with computers are at a disadvantage.  Synchronous session and group collaboration are susceptible to network connections, browser compatibility issues, and technical glitches. Response to questions and feedback is not always immediate.

Given there are similarities, differences, advantages, and challenges when it comes to traditional and online learning I, as a student (and will possibly as an educator) favor the distance learning modality.   Evan as a digital immigrant, I am aware of the aspects that come with online learning and am willing to put forth the effort, appropriately manage my time, and undergo the process of self-learning.  Being a married adult with full-time employment, I depend on the flexibility offered by online coursework.

Hybrid, hi-flex, and online coursework is inherently about rethinking and redesigning the relationship between teaching and learning. As there are a great amount of similarities and differences between online and traditional learning, preferences for these learning modalities vary per person. Partiality aside, distance classes are now commonplace, so students and faculty must adapt accordingly.

People often have preconceived opinions about the lecture as an educational modality.  Likewise, there is a certain mythology about what and who make an effective lecturer.  One of the most persistent myths is that having the ability to lecture is innate and that some are born with an extraordinary flair—a seemingly natural gift—for speaking to an audience.  Effective lecturing is more a matter of skill than charisma, and there are techniques that can help make a lecture more enjoyable for those in the audience while increasing the likelihood of knowledge retention.

Dr. Ling Lahm is a psychologist who specializes and has extensive experience with grief, relationships, and childhood depression.  Dr. Lahm is also a personal friend who once convinced me to attend one of his lectures titled, “I love you. Go away.”  The seemingly oxymoronic name made for an effective hook, but the true reasons I regard Ling’s lecture as, by far, the best I have ever attended transcend this humorous headline.  First, Ling was a master storyteller.  Good stories do more than create a sense of connection. They build familiarity and trust.  Without my knowing I found myself entering each entertaining tale and becoming more open to the idea of learning.  Ling’s stories contained multiple meanings, conveying complex ideas but in graspable ways. Audience or student boredom is a great risk with executing a lecture, yet stories are more engaging than a dry recitation of data points or a discussion of ideas and facts.

Effective teachers and lecturers know to combine two or more multimodal learning philosophies to provide a well-rounded educational experience. Learning environments, or conference attendees in Ling’s case, have diverse populations with a wide variety of learning styles.  A multimodal approach helps each individual relate to the material, digest what is being said, and retain what is being taught.  While the lecture naturally favors the auditory learning, visual and kinesthetic learners can be more easily reached by implementing activities or appropriate visual aids.  Dr. Lahm not only performed an energetic and humorous presentation using ping-pong balls (each bouncing ball representing uncontrolled emotions), he used appropriate pictures during his slide show, and even had an exercise that required participants to work with the person sitting next to them to find solutions to an emotional moral dilemma.

Most notable was Ling’s ability to sell and convey emotion.  Emotional scripting is a teaching technique that involves intentionally creating different emotional states for learners or audience members throughout different stages of a lecture.  Throughout Ling’s speech he would employ artful humor, having the conference attendees uncontrollably laughing.  While making more somber points, Ling successfully had several members of the audience in tears.  Expressing raw emotion and using a range of emotions makes the lecturer and the content more relatable all while keeping the audience engaged. By being mindful of the emotions teachers can conjure in their students, educators can turn dull, forgettable learning experiences into colorful, memorable ones.

Is my friend, Dr. Lahm’s, ability to lecture innate?  Without guess Ling exudes a natural aptitude to public speaking.  I truly believe, though, that Ling spent many years fine tuning his approach to gauge what works, how to keep a room engaged, and how to appeal to a large diverse audience.  This week’s reading stated that students have poor knowledge retention with lecture-style learning, often forgetting 80% of the lesion shortly after class. Ling is on faculty at Santa Clara University, teaching graduate level counseling classes in couple’s therapy, complex trauma, systems theory, and multicultural counseling.  As an educator he suspects greater retention than the typical 20% and attributes this suspicion to blatant class participation and engagement.  I believe that this along with his use of humor, multimodal philosophies, ability to integrate relevant stories into his lectures, and use of emotional scripting beautifully combine to memorable and effective teaching that could be described as pedagogical art.

When most think of innovation, technology often comes to mind. However, in a field like education, in my opinion, it is just as important to consider innovations in learning theories, teaching methods, and creative ways of introducing information.  This is especially important as classrooms along with students’ needs are becoming increasingly more diverse. When I picture an innovative classroom, my mind depicts a culturally sensitive safe space that exercises humanistic and cognitive teaching theories, promotes creativity and self-discovery, and is committed to change as both technology and the profession of dental hygiene transform.

Reflecting on my time as a student, I feel a longstanding problem in education is the one-size-fits-all approach.  Too many teachers would default to the predictable “read, lecture, exam” routine that lacked innovation.  Educational research supports that students have different styles of learning. Some students are visual learners, while others are verbal or auditory learners. By implementing more than one learning philosophy, such as humanistic and cognitive teaching philosophies, it is believed that students will have greater knowledge retention and ultimately have increased odds with achieve their academic goals. Humanistic teaching philosophy is characterized by leaner-centeredness where the aim is to not only develop a student’s cognitive capabilities but nurture emotions and feelings, promote critical thinking, and enhance emotional intelligence.  The goal moves beyond cognitive and intellectual expansion to address the education of the whole person.  Humanistic teaching is becoming increasingly more important as classrooms become more diverse.  This philosophy sets the stage for innovation by creating a safe space for learning.  Cognitive theory is a successful method for encouraging exploration and information processing where students discover answers and solutions on their own.  Learning is thought to be the relationship between new content and the learner’s cognitive structure.  Learners do not sit in the classroom as passive responders; rather, they are actively engaged, participate in their own learning, and promote the learning of others by offering insight from former experiences, skills, and motivations.  The goal with any teaching philosophy is to address what needs to be learned in relation to the learning needs of the students.  This is innovation at its finest! Understanding both humanism and cognitivism, which many believe to be at the core of educational psychology, will help a teacher set the stage for innovation by providing a safe and encouraging student-centered environment, increase the efficiency of learning, and offer harmonization in education.

The process of learning should be creative and captivating; hence, teachers must take advantage of educational innovations in order to keep up to date with recent developments.  Because of this I, as a teacher, will commit to being open to new ideas and ready to adjust to actual situations.  Creativity and emerging technologies allow teachers to individualize lesson plans to different students and their unique styles of learning.  Teachers who commit to old methods without trying techniques, activities, or technologies that are new and innovating are less successful. One must stop, reflect, and evaluate both previously used methods and newer innovating techniques to ensure true learning has taken place.

Whether one is combining teaching methods that have been researched to be affective with new innovations or trying something completely new, a strategy for innovation must be employed.  An educator should assess what is to be learned and ensure the innovation is meeting those needs. Consider options by consulting students or other faculty to see if there are suggestions.  Develop a thorough plan which may include inner-department collaboration, utilizing the specialties of other faculty or staff, and collecting the needed technology. Gain support for the innovation by faculty, students, and administrative staff.  Prepare students and faculty for the innovation.  Implement the innovation while giving oneself flexibility for mistakes and surprises.  Finally, the outcome for all innovations, teachings, or methods must be evaluated.

For me, being an innovative teacher means looking beyond what I feel I do well at the present time. Modern teachers should learn what is working for other educators while looking for new ways to improve teaching and learning. The art of teaching is constantly changing, so I, as a teacher, cannot remain stagnant.  Innovation presupposes doing something in different ways. The aim of innovation is to create a safe space for learning while utilizing aspects of what has previously worked but, all the while, developing an approach that is better, improved, and, well, innovative.

My choice to become a teacher was not a casual decision.  pursuing this master’s degree was a culmination of a process of reflection about what I wanted to do with my life and how I wanted my career as a dental hygienist to look.  I have chosen to become an educator because I believe that it is one of the most important functions performed in our culture.  I believe that teachers individually and collectively can not only change the profession of dental hygiene but improve it.  Within the process of teaching, I hope to find both personal and professional renewal.  I want to be a part of this noble vocation with the hope of one day being counted among those in whom future dental hygienists find inspiration.

Becoming my image of an ideal dental hygiene educator will only happen with effort and learning from other experienced teachers.  My hope is that instructional strategies in dental hygiene, DENTHYG 7100, will provide me with new ways to create an environment of active learning, make me aware of common pitfalls teachers encounter, and help me to further develop my philosophy of education. While I have experience teaching in a clinical setting, I have had no exposure to instructing online coursework and would find that beneficial.  Admittedly, my lack of familiarity with online education incites a level of nervousness with taking DENTHYG 7100.  I also have concerns with navigating the required technology for this class.  Those who know me know that I have never been computer savvy.  All the same, I am committed to taking the concrete conditions of this class, learn, and ultimately apply its theoretical framework to real world pedagogical scenarios.

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