Post on 18-Jul-2020
Building research capacity
in our students
Flexing the RSD across a
degree program
Sophie Karanicolas and Cathy Snelling
School of Dentistry
The University of Adelaide
Our Learning and Teaching Context Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH)
A 3 year undergraduate program at The
University of Adelaide
First year students – early clinical
experience
Human Biology and Clinical Practice
Around 60% of contact time from the
second half of course is spent on clinical
placements
Evidence-based clinical practice
Our Aims
Building research capacity in our
students by coherently and explicitly
developing their research skills across
our degree program
Develop life long learning skills to
underpin continuous evidence-based
professional practice
To demystify research and embed it
as an integral part in all scholarly
activities
How we embed the RSD on
a program wide level in the
BACHELOR OF ORAL HEALTH
Establishing Partnerships
Collaboration between discipline
areas and across year levels
including:
Human Biology I and II
Clinical Practice I, II and III
Dental and Health Sciences I, II and III
Professional Studies I and II
Barr Smith Library staff
First Year RSD Assessment Task
Group research project in Human Biology I
Assessment rubric based on RSD
Rubric critical in: formative assessment (feedback)
summative assessment (evaluation)
providing detailed ‘road map’ for students
guiding the research process and outcomes
The research process
The research outcome
First year students describe the research process
“Interpreting the sources was
sometimes a challenge due to the
complexity of the subject. There
had to be a balance between
relevance, reliability and simplicity
of concepts…” Emma, 2011 BOH 1
First year students describe the research process
“Our main resources came from
textbooks from the Barr Smith
Library and articles through
PubMed that were most relevant
and up to date. Our poster
contains information…. which we
believe is most important and
relevant to us as clinical oral
health professionals.”
David, BOH 1 2012.
RSD Second Year Implementation:
Reflective Writing Journal
Clinical Reflective Skills (CRS) adapted
from Work Skills Development
Framework
(Bandaranaike and Willison, 2010)
Reflection recognised as a critical part of:
• academic learning
• skills development
• professional development
• evidence-based practice
From QUT Draw Project, 2010.
Problem solving facet
Facet of Skill
Development
Level 1 Student requires a high
degree of
structure/guidance
Level 2 Student works with some
degree of
structure/guidance
Level 3 Student works
independently within
provided guidelines
Level 4 Student works in
innovative manner;
minimal reliance on
guidelines
Level 5 Student works with self-
determined guidelines
appropriate to context
E. PROBLEM
SOLVING Student
synthesises and
analyses data to
create solutions in
a range of clinical
contexts
Attempts to analyse an
issue of minimal
significance as basis of
reflection.
Needs high degree of
guidance to make
connections between
existing knowledge and
personal opinions
Analyses an issue of
minimal significance as
basis of reflection.
Moderate degree of
guidance to make
connections between
existing knowledge and
personal opinions
Analyses an issue of
moderate significance as
a basis of reflection.
Needs limited guidance
to make connections
between existing
knowledge and personal
opinions.
Synthesises
information/data to
construct emergent
knowledge.
Thoroughly analyses an
issue of high
significance as a basis
of reflection
Independently makes
connections between
existing knowledge and
personal opinions.
Synthesises
information/data to fill
recognized knowledge
gaps and emerging
evidence based
practice.
Skillfully and
comprehensively
analyses an issue of high
significance as a basis of
reflection.
Independently and
skillfully develops
connections between
existing knowledge,
personal opinions and
abstract aspects of
clinical practice.
Synthesises, and
applies information or
data to extend knowledge
and develop evidence
based practice for life .
RSD Second Year Implementation:
Clinical Case Studies
Clinical Study Case Reports
Rubric adapted from CRS
RSD Second Year Implementation:
Clinical Case Studies
RSD Third Year Implementation:
Oral Health Elective
“ It was like a baptism of fire”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj2QqafdLCY
What our graduates have to say:
“Before I left for Cambodia, I actually took
silver fluoride which is a product that we
didn’t even actually come into contact with
in the Bachelor of Oral Health here
I was doing a lot of research with that (silver
fluoride) and I ended up purchasing some
and taking it over with me and I was using it
a lot when I was over there.”
2010 BOH graduate
“It’s nice just being able to give your
ideas, your research, what you found
and their (dentists) accepting of it. I
think it (research) helps with that as
well because it’s just not what you
reckon”
2010 BOH graduate
What our graduates have to say
“Research creates more
questions”
(Tom, BOH 3 student 2012)
One final word from our students
Acknowledgements
John Willison, RSD project leader
BOH students, University of Adelaide
Sue Bandaranaike, James Cook University
sophie.karanicolas@adelaide.edu.au
catherine.snelling@adelaide.edu.au