Thank you to everyone who got involved in the ERDP Launch Event in March. The event was very productive with 46 L&T staff, representing all four Teaching Schools and a few of the Institutes, participating in interactive activities to stimulate conversation and generate ideas for ERDP.

We were joined by Professor Simon Lancaster, a National Teaching Fellow from the University of East Anglia, who led a session that challenged us all to get to grips with Twitter (follow the thread for the event: https://storify.com/S_J_Lancaster/faculty-of-medical-sciences-newcastle) and the concept of the flipped classroom. Lively discussion moved from the pros and cons of lecture capture to the concept that students generating their own vignettes results in improved constructive peer critique to the revelation that there is evidence that student module evaluations are systematically biased against women!

There were lots of ideas generated in the World Café session that will help us shape the ERDP into something that L&T staff want. You want information and support. To this end, over the next few months we’ll be looking to:

• collect baseline data about our constituency and what educational research is happening in the Faculty and sharing it with you
• expand the number of resources on our internal website
• establish a social media strategy
• promote networking and collaboration opportunities
• raise awareness of the University promotion process
• promote training opportunities

Tackling a wish list that includes adding extra hours to the day is a tall order but the ERDP is well placed to raise the issue of L&T staff having dedicated research time with University management and sees this as a long term strategic aim.

The notes from the event can be found on our internal webpage. Keep an eye out for our mailing list messages to see what new initiatives we’ll be putting in place.

We hope you gained something from the event and made some new contacts.

Organising team: Vanessa Armstrong, Sarah Harvey, Susanne Lewis, Steve McHanwell, Helen St Clair Thompson, Luisa Wakeling.

The School of Dental Sciences delivers two undergraduate and four post-graduate programmes. All our programmes have a strong vocational focus and the Bachelor of Dental Sciences, and the Diploma in Dental Hygiene & Therapy ( shortly to become the new BSc in Oral & Dental Health sciences) are both accredited by the General Dental Council.

 The transformation of a diverse group of young learners into technically able, reflective and professional dentists, and dental hygienists/therapists is not a particularly easy proposition. Many of the issues are common to medicine, particularly the application of science to a clinical scenario, developing effective communication and the attributes of being a health care professional. There are also unique challenges such as developing technical skill to a level so that our charges can safely perform extremely demanding technical dentistry in the confined space of the human mouth. They have to start doing this by the beginning of their second (BSc) or third (BDS) year. They also have to do this whilst also dealing with the apprehension that most dental patients seem to share.

Action research to help us understand and develop our practice in this context where patient safety is paramount has, understandably, been an academic focus in the School of Dental Sciences for some years. The range of work is as diverse as the students we teach.

The student journey with a focus on the key transitions that are required throughout the undergraduate courses has provided us with a number of interesting research themes.

• Collaborative research with other Dental Schools has allowed us to compare the ability of different student selection techniques to predict future performance.
• The development of competence in essential techniques through simulated but authentic skill development progressing to real life dentistry and competence assessment is another time of essential transition.
• Our work with technology development and the use of electronic portfolio to enhance student’s ability to record and reflect in order to become life-long, independent learners is perhaps one of the largest areas for our research in recent years.

Our action research also engages with the local community (through outreach activities, community health education projects and patient involvement), as well as collaboration with other UK and European schools. Curriculum enhancements and innovations in sign-posting the acquisition of broad professional skills is an area of growing interest and one in which a number of successful innovations are now being published, as is enhancing feedback through self, peer, teacher and patient engagement.

Student support and the management of arising issues has led us to develop peer mentoring and to report on the increasing challenges of managing the ‘student in difficulty’.

An ongoing PhD study involving in-depth literature review and document analysis is currently allowing a full exploration of the concept of professionalism. We perceive that this may well be a starting point for a further broad reaching programme of research culminating in the development of a robust assessment of professionalism which could have an impact across multiple spheres.

The commonalities with aspects of all of the courses run in the faculty are easy to see and we look forward to working with other disciplines and making a full contribution to the new Unit.

Jimmy Steele and Janice Ellis, School of Dental Sciences