Dental colleges to improve teaching methods
VSPM Dental College has become the first college in Vidarbha and the third in Maharashtra to adopt a course in Dental Education Technology (DET) for teachers, reported the Times of India. Launched in July by Dr Arun Jamkar, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) vice-chancellor, the DET unit of the college will run a 3-day pilot programme in DET.
The course aims at improving the teaching quality and will address issues like stress among dentistry students (fear of failure, insecurity about future and peer pressure), making use of information technology for teaching, better teacher-student relationship and more.
According to Dr Anjali Deshpande, co-chairperson of the unit, many teachers of the dental college have also been engaged in projects for a long time which are driven by students’ feedback regarding various issues.
The DET courseware will include methodologies like e-learning and simulation learning. Apart from discussing education techniques, the course will also focus on the personal development of students as well. A teacher from a participating college told TOI that the relationship between teachers and students has changed dramatically. The course will also discuss on building a friendlier bond between teachers and students. (Read more)
Dr Ramakrishna Shenoi, vice-dean of the college told TOI that five dental colleges of Vidharbha will take part who will eventually implement the conclusions drawn from the programme. According to him, the programme aims at abolishing ‘rote learning’ and replacing it by problem-based and competency-based learning. According to him, the teachers will try to offer more clinical exposure by orienting the syllabus accordingly. The programme will commence on August 28 and will continue till August 30.
In another news report from the Assam Tribune, Imphal will soon have a Dental College at Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) under the Central government. The college will be highly beneficial for local students as most of them have been studying dental studies at expensive private colleges.(Read full story)
