Signature pedagogies are widely used in professional education to prepare students for the complex and unpredictable nature of professional work. We argue that assessment moments involving professional artefacts contribute to the evaluation and formation of professional knowledge, skills and moral understandings -- and thus to the signature of the…

Nontraditional students have personal obstacles they must overcome in their journey through college. These barriers differ from traditional students and can include feelings of isolation and a sense that their chosen institutions are insensitive and inflexible to the particular nontraditional student needs. In this quantitative, causal-comparative…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify if there was a significant relationship between dental hygiene students' perceptions of the learning environment and their motivational orientation. The study was also designed to determine if there was a significant difference in satisfaction with the learning environment between first-year,…

Given the predicted shortages of minority dental healthcare providers in the United States and the expanding diversity of the general population, it is important to recruit and retain an ethnically and culturally diverse allied dental workforce. The objectives of this study were to explore why the profession of dental hygiene exhibits minimal…

The purpose of this non-experimental causal-comparative study was to determine if service-learning teaching experience affects dental hygiene faculty perceptions of service-learning benefits and barriers in the United States. Dental hygiene educators from entry-level dental hygiene education programs in the United States completed the Web-based…

Universities around the world are increasingly moving towards blended learning models to engage their 21st century learners (Alammary et al., 2014; Brenard et al., 2014; Tandoh et al., 2014). However, students' engagement and satisfaction with blended learning in dental education remain understudied. To address this gap, this study examines the…

Education of oral and dental hygiene for elementary students is often constrained by the nature of children who are easily saturated, so that media and games need to be an interactive, interesting and fun simulation that entices their interest and curiosity in learning. The purpose of this research is to develop a web-based dental health ladder…

Prior studies document the need to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the health care workforce. Different approaches to increase the diversity of the healthcare workforce include implementing bridge, transitional and academic enrichment programs; diversifying college admissions criteria; and developing models of education that enhance…

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented worldwide challenges to all levels of dental education, specifically teaching face-to-face preclinical content remotely. When students and educators were suddenly required to stay home and continue their studies, anxiety increased for all. Although a few studies exist on the impact this challenge has had on…

Dental hygiene education has evolved over the years from dental hygiene professions who provide patient education on oral health care to assuming the responsibility for the assimilation of knowledge that requires judgment, decision making and critical thinking skills. Given that the dental hygiene professions has moved toward evidence-based,…

Children with special health care needs face many barriers to oral care and are at high risk for oral disease. School nurses are in a unique position to promote oral wellness in this vulnerable population. Collaboration between school nurses and dental hygiene faculty resulted in the formation of a partnership between a university-based dental…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify, compile, and describe how community college graduate dental hygienists perceived their initial dental hygiene curriculum preparation and how they subsequently adapted their curriculum preparation in order to perform their responsibilities in their first clinical dental hygiene job.…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

This study explores dental hygiene faculty's perceptions regarding the issues surrounding the concept of critical thinking skills integration within Michigan accredited associate degree dental hygiene programs. The primary research goals are to determine faculty understanding of the concept of critical thinking, identify personal and departmental…

Knowledge translation is a central focus of the health research community, which includes strategies to synthesize published research to support uptake within health care practice and policy arenas. Within the literature concerning review methodologies, a new discussion has emerged concerning methods that review and synthesize published review…