- TO: Faculty Council, School of Dentistry
- FR: Curriculum Revision Subcommittee (Peter Sargent, Mark Ryder, Bill Bird, Gordon Douglass, Hilary Pritchard)
- RE: Resource Implications of Curriculum Revision
- DA: June 16, 1999
The proposal for curriculum revision carries with it resource implications for the implementation phase. Specifically, the Subcommittee foresees the following:
1. Curriculum Administrator. To successfully implement and support this plan, the school needs a new senior administrator whose assigned responsibilities will be directed toward the schoolâs educational programs and curriculum. This individual would need to be recruited, once a job description has been developed, and should probably be appointed at the Associate Dean level. We would seek someone whose credentials and interests are centered on dental education, and who has contributed original scholarly work to the literature in that field. This individual would help the stream leaders during the implementation phase, as well as providing leadership, direction, and instruction for a series of in-service programs to help faculty prepare for change.
2. Stream Leaders. Each of the five streams proposed in the plan will require a stream leader who will devote approximately 40%FTE to these duties (perhaps as much as 50% FTE in the early years). These individuals will be responsible for administrative oversight and management of the multidisciplinary, multi-unit courses taught within the streams. Initially, the stream leader will need to organize meetings with various faculty members who will be planning and teaching courses defined in that stream. Faculty will need to meet periodically to review student progress, ensure continuity from quarter to quarter and year to year, and assess faculty needs. The Subcommittee believes current faculty members have the expertise to serve as stream leaders for the Patient-Centered Care, Foundations of Restorative Science & Technology, and Foundations of Dentistry streams. It is not clear whether we currently have faculty who could serve as stream leaders for the Foundations of Biomedical Sciences or Scientific Method and Clinical Dentistry (SMCD) streams.
3. Other Resources. Implementing the proposal will require greater use of small group teaching classrooms (groups of 8-12 students). Many of the proposed courses, and the SMCD stream in particular, will require more computer-based study for students. The initial implementation phase will necessitate a series of in-service courses for faculty, probably spread out over 6-8 academic quarters.
In summary, we believe that implementing the new curriculum will require a total commitment of 3-4 FTE: 1 at the level of Associate Dean for Curriculum and 2-3 FTE divided among five stream leaders. Other resource implications include support for faculty in-service training and classroom space for small-group teaching (8-12 students/group).
