Undergraduate dental students at King’s College London begin their pre-clinical simulation training at the beginning of the second year of training. To learn the necessary skills prior to beginning patient care in the undergraduate student clinics, they practice on models containing teeth in the ‘phantom head” dental mannequins. In order to safely use this equipment, an induction on how to use it correctly was until recently, carried out in person.
This carried the risk that students might miss the session and must have a one-to-one catch-up session later necessitating staff taking time out of their scheduled duties to perform this. Moreover, students might not be able to clearly see or might miss part of the safety demonstration putting them at subsequent risk of injury if the equipment was not used correctly.
I approached Mr. Kenneth McMahon to discuss the idea of making a series of short videos on how to correctly set -up and operate the phantom-head dental simulators and accompanying dental handpieces.
Kenneth led on the filming of these videos, their editing and final production in 2022 so that they could be uploaded to “KEATS”, the online learning platform at King’s College London prior to the start of the new academic year in September 2022.
These videos greatly facilitated student learning in that the dental students were sent the links prior to the start of the induction session enabling them to watch them beforehand.
These videos also supplemented the hands-on face to face training during the induction session and allowed the students to study in their own time and recap on anything that they missed during the “live demonstration”.
The production of these videos also meets an important Faculty/College “health and safety” requirement regarding appropriate safety training.
It is possible to determine which students have watched the videos on KEATS and this allows the Dental Faculty to check that each student has completed the necessary training and if necessary, encourage those students who have not, to do so. Kenneth has also written and produced a feedback questionnaire that will provide us with the information we need to further improve these resources for students and to expand the use of resources like these into areas where students will find them most useful and effective for their learning.
Following the success of these videos, I am working with Kenneth on further educational materials to introduce both students and faculty staff, to “digital dentistry”.
Dr Richard Foxton,
Senior Clinical Lecturer in Dental Education/ Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry, Lead for Simulation,
Head of Year 2 Undergraduate Dentistry,
Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London.
I initially thought of presenting this case study resource as a word document. Ultimately the end result exceeded my expectations. There are a number of things that iTEL achieved for me that I did not even know were possible and they really brought my module to life. The resources are visual and draw you in. You can watch them multiple times and slow them down or speed them up. The work that iTEL did on this is truly extraordinary. Certainly something that I could not have done alone. I will be changing my approach in other modules that I teach and run both nationally and internationally. I am more aware of the simple changes that can be made and the benefits these changes make to the learner’s experience.
Sarah Curr, Module Lead, Legal and Ethical Issues for Professional Practice.
Mr McMahon, is a highly valued member of our TEL team. He has a rare mixture of technical expertise, pedagogical understanding and an eagerness to try and test new approaches and solutions. He has been instrumental in disseminating best TEL practice within the faculty by managing and facilitating our faculty group of expert TEL users (TEL champions). In this role he has led organised workgroups of 8-12 advanced TEL users that help cascade the faculty’s core and supplementary TEL skills requirement within academic and professional staff population.
He is an expert user of a number of industrial standard content authoring tools. Mr McMahon is also development lead on a number of high-profile courses, within this role has been a key participant in discussions and provided expert guidance on pedagogical design and delivery of materials. providing valuable advice on selection of different delivery formats to ensure an effective and efficient use of resources so that the best possible results are achieved within the resources and time frame available.
Ehsan Khan MSc, PhD, RN, NT,
Senior Lecturer in Nurse Education
As Programme Leader for our new curriculum, one of my chief goals was to develop innovative assessment strategies for students.
One of the ideas I had for this was to make a film, ask students to watch it and then answer a series of questions arising from it as part of an Open Book exam. I had no idea of where to start, and asked Ken for advice. He was really keen from the beginning, and I could not imagine anyone more helpful.
He met with me to discuss my requirements in terms of the timeline, the length of film, how many actors would be involved, location, soundtrack – all the details.
Right from the start he gave expert, realistic advice, told me exactly what I needed to do, calculated a budget, and together we organised filming dates.
Ken directed the film, was on location the entire time we filmed it (over two days), and organised the lighting, the sound, the cameramen, directed the actors, gave advice on stage sets and generally ran the show. We worked really efficiently to the timeline and the actors (all professional I had hired for the job) praised Ken for his direction and his clarity and calmness under stress.
Ken then edited the film, provided transcript, credits, and converted it onto digital format suitable for distribution – again, all done expertly within the timeline.
Since making that film,
Ken has always been a delight to work with, but especially during this “high-stakes” project, and was unfailingly reliable, calm, kind and professional. He has been an invaluable help to me over the last few years and I am hoping to make another film with him, and could not recommend him more highly for any future work or development opportunities
Dr Ruth Ohlsen PhD RMN Dip Nut. PGCAPHE FHEA
Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead BSc Mental Health Nursing
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
I initially thought of presenting this case study resource as a word document. Ultimately the end result exceeded my expectations. There are a number of things that iTEL achieved for me that I did not even know were possible and they really brought my module to life. The resources are visual and draw you in. You can watch them multiple times and slow them down or speed them up. The work that iTEL did on this is truly extraordinary. Certainly something that I could not have done alone. I will be changing my approach in other modules that I teach and run both nationally and internationally. I am more aware of the simple changes that can be made and the benefits these changes make to the learner’s experience.
Sarah Curr, Module Lead, Legal and Ethical Issues for Professional Practice.
note: This fedback is for a different case study-based resource which followed a similar format and which I also produced.