Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
2014
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Journal of Dental Education
Volume
78
Issue
10
First Page
1353
Last Page
1363
Date of Submission
December 2015
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the current status of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) within academic dentistry. A twenty-two-item survey was distributed to faculty members of American Dental Education Association (ADEA) member schools asking about their awareness of SoTL practices, perceived barriers to SoTL application, and ways to enhance SoTL activity. Four hundred thirty surveys with equal distribution of assistant, associate, and full professors were received (this may be considered a response rate of 5.4 percent out of roughly 8,000 ADEA faculty members). Almost 70 percent of the respondents indicated that they highly valued SoTL; only 2.1 percent indicated they did not. The extent to which the respondents valued SoTL was positively correlated with their perception of SoTL’s value among other faculty members in their program (r(322)=0.374, p<0.001), school (r(299)=0.204, p<0.001), and institution (r(233)=0.296, p<0.002). However, the respondents were generally unsure how SoTL was applied at their institutions. Respondents from private institutions reported making more SoTL presentations at conferences than did those from public institutions (t(303)=-2.761, p=0.006) and stronger promotion of SoTL in their institutional policies (t(330)=-3.004, p=0.003). Barriers to changing the perception and application of SoTL appeared to exist at both organizational and individual levels, and ADEA was perceived to be well positioned to assist with both.
Rights
Reprinted by permission of Journal of Dental Education, Volume 78, 10 (October 2014). Copyright 2014 by the American Dental Education Association.
Is Part Of
VCU Periodontics Publications
Comments
Originally published at http://www.jdentaled.org/content/78/10/1353.long
This study was supported by the American Dental Education Association’s Special Interest Group on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The authors would like to acknowledge the group’s past and current leadership for their contributions to this work.