Aligning Our Vision with Dental Competencies to Improve Evidence-Based Dentistry Education

Monday, August 10, 2020

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CT

Presenter and Author(s)

Nena Schvaneveldt, AHIP

Education Librarian
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

Slides Slides and Audio

Author(s)

Sean Stone

Dentistry Librarian
Indiana University School of Dentistry
Indianapolis, Indiana
Natalie Clairoux

Dentistry Librarian
Universite de Montreal
Universite de Montreal
Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada
Amanda Nevius

Research & Instruction Librarian - Dental Liaison
Tufts University
Boston, Massachusetts
Lorraine Porcello

Branch Librarian
Basil G. Bibby Library, Eastman Institute for Oral Health
Rochester, New York
Erica R. Brody

Research and Education Librarian
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia
Irene (Rena) Machowa Lubker, AHIP

Research and Education Informationist
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Jennifer S. Walker

Health Sciences Librarian & Liaison to the Adams School of Dentistry
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Background: Evidence-based practice requires dental student proficiency in (a) asking clear researchable questions, (b) acquiring evidence, and (c) critically appraising research studies. Librarians are well-suited to instruct on these topics due to their expertise and interest in information literacy; however, they are not consistently consulted or invited to teach dental curricula. The development of a dentistry-specific companion document to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy would uphold librarian collaboration in dental instruction by demonstrating the precise ways in which librarians’ and dental educators' values and objectives are aligned.

Description: Dental librarians from across the United States and Canada first identified 9 American and Canadian dental education competencies with major information literacy and/or critical thinking components. Next, these competencies were individually aligned to frames in the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. When no overall consensus was found, the mapping was further discussed by small groups until an agreement was reached. These combined competencies and frames were then used to create a rubric with a detailed picture of the levels of critical thinking skills dental students will need at specific milestones in their education. The rubric will be presented to dental faculty and professional associations for feedback and validation. Information literacy learning outcomes were also devised for each dental education competency using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Action Verbs and the ACRL Framework’s knowledge practices and dispositions.

Conclusion: Complex concepts, such as critical thinking and evidence-based dentistry, are often best taught in collaboration, and the resulting companion document (including the mapping and a rubric to determine student proficiency) will be a tool that can be used to encourage dental school faculty to collaborate with librarians at the programmatic and course level. Librarians in any subject area may also gain inspiration on how to create and use such materials with their faculty as well.