Dental education at Dundee Dental Hospital and School - a notable past and inspiring future.

Dundee Dental Hospital and School has been present on Park Place, Dundee for over 100 years. During this time, it has been at the forefront of dental care and education, first as part of the University of St Andrews and subsequently the University of Dundee. This innovation continues with novel undergraduate curricula for dental and dental therapy students, providing early clinical experience and integrating clinical teaching with the appropriate sciences. We also offer several taught postgraduate programmes, popular particularly with international students. Dundee was at the forefront of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme leading the world on guidance for safe clinical practice. Innovative solutions for the ongoing delivery of teaching and assessment also were developed. Research underpins teaching and the delivery of dental care and Dundee has an international reputation for its research portfolio. All of the above can only be achieved by close working relationships between the University and NHS, which will be strengthened further by the creation of the Dundee Dental Research Hospital and School. Our international reputation will continue to attract students and staff from across the world.

The design of distance-learning programmes and the role of content experts in their production.

This paper describes an effective and efficient approach to the production of distance-learning materials in which content experts, editors and instructional designers collaborate. The approach is based on the development of a clearly defined agreed educational strategy and the use of a template for the programme. This allows the content experts to assemble the first draft of the programme in an appropriate format, with further revisions being carried out by the educationists in collaboration with the content editor. A task-based approach was adopted in the programme and a two-column layout incorporating nine different types of educational enhancements was used. Useful educational strategies which should be considered in the development of the template for a distance learning programme can be categorized into the following three areas: (1). interactivity enhancements including questions posed, think points for reflection, and case scenarios linking theory to practice; (2). enrichment enhancements including illustrations, readings and quotes from experts; (3). action/practice enhancements highlighting the application of portfolio building--provides useful advice on topics covered as they relate to the AFRC examination, and encourages trainees to apply their knowledge. The use made of the enhancements varies in the different modules. This project was challenging and ambitious but our objectives were met with all 39 authors satisfactorily producing the 42 SELECT Units.