Alexandria, VA, USA – A study presenting an innovative One Health instruction strategy using digital badging to provide evidence of achievement for dental students will be presented at the 101st General Session of the IADR, which will be held in conjunction with the 9th Meeting of the Latin American Region and the 12th World Congress on Preventive Dentistry on June 21-24, 2023, in Bogotá, Colombia.
The WCPD Interactive Talk presentation, “Promoting One Health in Dental Education Using Digital Badging,” will take place on Saturday June 24, 2023, at 3:55 p.m. Colombia Time (UTC-05:00) during the “WCPD Interactive Talk I” session.
The study by Raquel Baroni De Carvalho of the Federal University of Espirito Santo, Vitória, Brazil, developed a series of One Health online modules and strategies for experiential learning within the emerging framework of micro-credentialing to facilitate the opportunity for dental students to validate their aggregated One Health knowledge and skills. The multi-institutional pilot program has been developed by faculty from the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, USA, and the Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil, to promote teaching and learning in global health and One Health. The didactic portion of the curriculum was divided into five modules (three asynchronous and two synchronous), for a total of 25 contact hours and a digital badge is issued at the end of the course to certify achievement.
The current literature on One Health and the existing curriculum was reviewed and synthesized. The pilot curriculum was divided into three asynchronous modules: (1) One Health and population oral health, (2) Social determinants of health and environmental health, and (3) Cultural competency and interprofessional collaboration. The two synchronous modules build on the foundational knowledge previously gained to offer experiential and applied opportunities in One health that include: using chemotherapeutics to address oral disease in growing global population with concurrent increase in antibiotic microbial resistance; recognizing how zoonosis may impact oral health; raising awareness towards environmentally sustainable dental practices; and developing an One Health perspective towards dentistry’s impact on the planet.
The study concluded that innovative instruction strategies, such as digital badging, can be easily implemented and facilitates the integration of One Health concepts into dental education. The micro-credentialing approach to certify learning accomplishments is a convenient and contemporary way for students who are interested in pursuing non-core dental topics outside of the formal curriculum to document their knowledge and experiences.
About IADR
The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research for health and well-being worldwide. IADR represents the individual scientists, clinician-scientists, dental professionals, and students based in academic, government, non-profit and private-sector institutions who share our mission. Learn more at www.iadr.org.