Sections Project:
Fabricating Dental Casts
PIDP 3240
Markus Fischer #000096595
8/13/2012
Introduction
The dental technology course at Vancouver Community is a two year diploma-granting program
and has been my teaching domain for the past twelve years. Considering the multitude of skills
that students need to develop during this course I propose to develop a series of training videos
that will demonstrate fundamental skills development as well as health and safety guidelines.
The first movie covers the fundamental skills that are required to fabricate dental casts and will
be available on YouTube. Students also receive course DVDs that contain this and other training
movies. The VCC library as well as the learning center provides computer terminals to students
that may lack computer skills or access.
Students
The dental technology program attracts students from many different backgrounds and various
age groups. A significant number of learners have previously worked in a laboratory whereas
others have very limited skills in these areas and rely heavily on instructional staff for guidance.
About half of the class is composed of ESL students that may have various language difficulties.
All students that are accepted into this program have successfully challenged a skills dexterity
test which establishes a threshold of basic skills and thus provides the foundation for further
training.
Ease of Use and Reliability
YouTube is the most popular video sharing website which was established in 2005 and
purchased by Google the following year. In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views and is
a well established enterprise. Many current VCC students have easy access to this website
through personal devices such as smart phones, tablets or laptop computers. VCC provides
wireless connectivity throughout the downtown campus; technology classrooms are equipped
with computer terminals as well as media projectors that are easy to access. The broadcasting
technology is therefore proven to be reliable and easily assessable to students, staff and any
other interested stake holders. The materials in these training vignettes are the same technical
demonstrations that are performed in the classroom. Since the ratio of teacher to students is
1:16 it is often difficult for all participants to observe every aspect of technical instructions so
now they can review these movies on their time.
Cost
Significant time is required in order to design, script, record, edit and post these vignettes and
therefore resources need be committed to this endeavour. A carefully crafted proposal needs
to be created with the help of the department head as well as the dean of health sciences.
Once the movies have been created and posted on the video sharing website not much
additional effort is required to maintain their availability. Students will also be given DVDs of
relevant course materials that include these vignettes and the cost for these disks are included
in the tuition fees.
Teaching and Learning
The College of Dental Technicians of BC has identified multiple skill competencies that dental
technicians are required to attain in order to become registered. Our program focuses on
developing these competencies which are expressed through cognitive skills, affective health
and safety values, and psychomotor hands-on abilities. Technical demonstrations are a very
effective tool in order to teach correct skills. Complex tasks are divided into easy to follow steps
that integrate course materials such as textbooks as well as hands-on demonstrations in order
to allow the learners to gain relevant technical abilities. Recording these demonstrations will
give students a chance to review these skills when they are needed. The first video covers the
fabrication of dental casts which is the foundation in order to create properly fitting dental
restoration.
Interactivity
The YouTube website allows the user to comment on any video that has been posted and we
regularly review these comments and reply to them. We also encourage students to post
questions or comments on the department Facebook page and most importantly we encourage
learners to engage their instructors in the class room.
Organizational Issues
As part of the initial investigation into this project it is necessary to review any applicable
copyright and other regulations that apply to it. Questions such as who holds the copyright
once a video has been produced, what equipment can be displayed, what part of the VCC
facility will be shown, is the instructor willing to have his/her image used in this movie, require
careful scrutiny. Once these and other questions have been sufficiently addressed production
can occur.
Novelty
Training videos are very useful teaching tools and have been used in the dental technology
community for many years. My department and VCC library have purchased various videos and
made them available to the students. Up to this point we have not created our own training
videos that reflect competencies taught in our department and reflect the practical skills as well
as scope of practice as developed by the provincial regulatory body. So once these movies are
created they are a novelty and will hopefully become a useful tool for the students and
industry.
Speed
The initial time commitment is significant in order to create effective and useful demonstration
videos. Once they have been produced and posted on YouTube some upkeep is needed in order
to ensure that they continue to be available. Since the field of dental technology is constantly
evolving it is important that these videos are updated on a regular basis and in accordance to
the provincial competencies.
Conclusion
It has been a very useful exercise to use the “Sections Model” to produce this digital media
proposal. I have been considering creating demonstration videos for several years now and
since I have now contemplated the various organizational steps of the “Sections Model” I feel
ready to tackle the project and to proceed with it.
References
College of Dental Technicians of BC
http://www.cdt.bc.ca
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/t/about_youtube
Vancouver Community College Dental Technology
http://www.vcc.ca/programs-courses/detail.cfm?div_id=6&prog_id=46