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Access to Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene Articles Worldwide

The Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene (CHDH) was recently accepted for inclusion in Scorpus, which is an abstract and citation database of more than 20,000 peer-reviewed journal titles in science, technology, social sciences and humanities. As a result, the articles within will be available to researchers, educators, students and others worldwide.

Having recently attended the North American/Global Dental Hygiene Research Conference in Bethesda, Md last October, I was invigorated as Dental Hygienists from all over the world presented their research! It was exciting to be a part of something that is changing our world – the world of dental hygiene and oral health. There were workshops and forums, formal presentations and round table discussions. All were impressive and it was very difficult to choose which to attend.

The coming together of great minds for the purpose of sharing knowledge and research findings to further our profession has a powerful impact. Topics such as tobacco cessation to interprofessional practice and advocacy to quality control and caring for the aging population were all presented. These discoveries present further questions to be taken on in the future and perhaps also provide the strength to budding researchers to take up the quest for knowledge.

It is in this light that I must be very excited about this recent step with the inclusion of the CJDH into a more diverse and globally accessible network. It will allow our researchers to share their findings internationally and be recognized for their work. As research is being shared through technology, it is promising for up and coming researchers to envision their work being shared globally. It is important to continue sharing with those who are currently beginning their careers that research is the propelling force which allows for improved client care and advancement in our field.

Blogging as part of the learning process….

Do I see blogging as a part of the student requirements in my courses this fall? What does blogging offer that a journal or portfolio does not? I have been really focused on these questions and do see it as a positive component in my upcoming courses of Health Promotion Interventions and Advocacy & Policy Making. These two courses would pair nicely with a blogging component.

Although blogging “defies generalization” (Nackerud & Scaletta, 2008, p. 74) and reasoning for blogging varies greatly, it can certainly play an important part in the sharing of information which students can certainly gain from. By creating an environment where students can view others thoughts and insights as well as share their own, creates a sense of purpose, belonging and confidence which fosters deep learning. The ability to “post feedback to the blog author” (p. 76) which “may prompt a virtual discussion” (p. 76) can also facilitate deeper learning and allow students a platform for advocacy and change – a starting point, if you will.

As has been modelled this past course within the MALAT program, I hope to implement a similar blogging requirement and I have begun to structure some means of gathering data to determine the impact of blogging on the students learning outcomes and how if varies from that of journals or portfolio postings. I expect to see greater positive feedback as it is more interactive and provides a social learning environment.

It would be ideal to begin the blogging process as students enter the second year of the dental hygiene program as it was found that the benefits of blogging are greater when the process is longer, allowing the students to “find their voice and become more comfortable with public writing”(p. 75).

I am looking forward to the implementation of blogging into my toolkit as an educator and hope to share its results in future postings.

Nackerud, S., & Scaletta, K. (2008). Blogging in the academy.  New Directions for Student Services (124),

71-87.  DOI: 10.1002/ss.296

The Missing Link

Over the last year, I have had the privilege of gaining funding to pilot a research initiative in which my students partnered with the Registered Nursing Association of Ontario’s (RNAO) Best Practice Coordinator for our region. What an exciting opportunity! We were involved in the evaluation, planning and creation, implementation, and evaluation of a series of educational webinars for the Community of Practice (CoP) for the RNAO which was focused on oral health care in the Long term care (LTC) setting. Following this education piece, we then participated in 3 ‘Train the trainer’ sessions in which the dental hygiene students were paired with LTC staff in order to perform assessments and teach in a hands-on method.

The outcome of this pilot far exceeded our expectations and is set to continue this fall term. We have analyzed the data which arose from this pilot and it was determined that more one-on-one training with the LTC staff will benefit not only the staff but also the students.

I believe one of the most powerful findings was, to our surprise, the unexpected knowledge gained by the dental hygiene (DH) students! Going into this pilot, we had expected and planned that the DH students would gain leadership experience by teaching in the LTC setting. Of course, the plan was that the LTC staff would gain significant knowledge through the hands-on training provided by this pilot. What we did not expect was the significant knowledge acquired by the DH students in the form of client management in elderly care! Our students, when interviewed, revealed the importance of watching the staff interact with the elderly and throughout this experience they walked away enriched with information we could not previously provide to them in the educational setting.

We have created many opportunities for our students to learn in the community where they can teach and care for those in the community who have need. What these other experiences lacked, however, was brought to light through this pilot and that was the true nature of the interprofessional team. By pairing up with the LTC staff, each member of the team was able to gain knowledge the other members were able to provide: learning about, from and with each other. This was the powerful component which was missing previously; the missing link. By working alongside or parallel to other health care providers is not enough. When work together there becomes an insightful working approach which fosters respect and trust as well as co-dependence – and this, in my humble opinion, creates an environment where comprehensive client care takes place.

*The finding of this pilot have not yet been presented formally and therefore statistics cannot be shared.

Community of Practice – A Powerful Sharing Tool

I was first introduced to the term Community of Practice, or CoP, last year when arranging an interprofessional learning opportunity for a team of students in my Community Health Outreach course. In meeting with the project’s preceptor and discussing the pilot project we would be rolling out, the term CoP kept coming up. I was shown an overview of the CoP plan that the preceptor was putting into play in her professional community. My student team was to become a part of this CoP in the form of designing and implementing a series of webinars focused on oral health care in the long term care setting.  As we were determining where the student’s series would best fit within this CoP , I thought I had better become familiar with this term and its importance to this project. This led to some research and understanding of the CoP method of knowledge sharing, of which I am a fan.

I recently came across a very interesting site which provides insight into this topic of CoP as well as the surrounding topics of social learning and strategic evaluation. A Community of Practice is a meeting of like minds with the purpose of learning, sharing of knowledge, sharing of experiences and improving of skills through observation (Wenger & Trayner, n.d.). One such CoP may be a group of community business owners who meet regularly to discuss trends in the economy and share ideas and experiences with new marketing strategies. Another may be a group of nursing professionals with a mandate to remain current in their knowledge and skill set – keeping abreast of the latest developments in health sciences in their field.

It is my belief that Bandura had this very idea of practice in mind when he expressed his ideas of social learning theory. Learning through social context and by keen observation (McLeod, 2011) is a powerful method for gaining knowledge and has been a predominant learning method in my personal and professional experience. Within a CoP, the environment is rich with knowledge which allows for each member of the CoP to immerse themselves, to interact with others, to fill the knowledge gaps they may have and to share with others their own personal stores of knowledge that may help others as well as advance their community as a whole.

It has been said that a CoP has the potential to have a positive or negative effect, dependent on the participants, their beliefs and the strength and veracity of the knowledge they bring to the community (Wegner, 1998). I can certainly agree with this particular point of view but on the whole, I feel it is a collectively positive experience. Understanding this potential risk, it is certainly recommended that a watchful assessment regarding the focus and general conduct of the CoP be done prior to fully engaging.

References:

McLeod, S. A. (2011). Bandura – Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html

http://wenger-trayner.com/blog/

Wenger, E. (1998). Community. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Retrieved from: https://books.google.ca/books?id=heBZpgYUKdAC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=community+of+practice+as+a+negative&source=bl&ots=keniWsfA2m&sig=yM11HgktITqDjL6BFE-5ObBG3qk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIl-qv4vH9xgIVgYYNCh0Ykg2R#v=onepage&q=community%20of%20practice%20as%20a%20negative&f=false

The New Currency of Blogging

Blogging is on the rise. It was just a few days ago, my oldest daughter was telling me about several blogs she follows. Being a fashionista and nutrition nut – she was describing their virtues and why she follows faithfully. As it turns out, two of these bloggers have recently signed lucrative contracts due to the success of their blogs and the high number of followers they have. It would seem that blogging can be a financial jackpot. Companies will team up with high profile bloggers to promote their products and gain higher visibility with their followers. This currency is the age old one of financial gain.

What about the currency of knowledge? Scholarly blogging is too on the rise. Through blogging scholars are able to share knowledge and increase their connectivity to the research community. This platform allows for increased visibility and through the gain of followers, raises their credibility.   But it can’t just be about visibility and notoriety, can it? There is mounting evidence of an underlying currency of belonging (community presence), communication and furthering academic discourse which is seen in Heide Estes’ article on “Blogging and Academic Identity “where she states: “Blogging provides a forum for quick feedback and for conversation with a more diverse audience than traditional academic publishing venues, and can enrich and extend academic discourse”. (Estes, 2012) Sara Kjellberg takes this further by saying that blogging “is motivated by the possibility to share knowledge, that the blog aids creativity, and that it provides a feeling of being connected in their work as researchers” (Kjellberg, 2010)

As I continue to blog, and being a new-comer to this platform, I do not have financial gain in my sights! I don’t expect to gain fame or fortune….. but I do expect to gain experience. This is a currency which is valuable in its own right. I also will be a part of the MALAT blogging community and share with peers. Whatever the currency, bloggers are finding that blogging pays off in spades!

Estes, H. (2012), “Blogging and Academic Identity”. Literature Compass, 9: 974–982. doi: 10.1111/lic3.12017

Kjellberg, S. (2010). I am a blogging researcher: Motivations for blogging in a scholarly context. First Monday, 15(8). doi:10.5210/fm.v15i8.2962

Researcher Centered Research

As researchers, we have preferences! Our personal preferences, values and beliefs, as well as the way we process information and learn, all play a part in how we approach research. We proceed through life with a large ol’ bunch of baggage with us – our past experiences, our struggles and lessons learned; our fears and prejudices, our faith and values and social context. It doesn’t matter how well we attempt to withhold these from our research, to be objective – it would be like placing silly putty in a crack in the Hoover Dam!!!

We are the center of the research and must remember this. “…the person is always at the center of the process if inquiry … not only in a psychological sense … but in a philosophical sense…”. (Bentz & Shapiro, 1998, p. 4) We will research that which is important to us and in doing so, find resolve in the outcome. That question we have about a certain topic which we feel warrants investigation. What about a need which we identify within a certain population or demographic? Perhaps it will simply be looking at the outcome of our curriculum and engaging in evaluation research.

A question that arises out of the researcher-centered approach is that of validity. How can the research outcomes be reliable? How valid are the conclusions drawn when the process is not objective? Will not the researcher’s involvement taint the inquiry by introducing a subjective element? These are all valid points but it comes down to the integrity of the researcher and the specific inquiry! When there is a need for answers and a topic of inquiry has been identified, there is significant investment on the part of the researcher. It has been well stated by Brinberg and McGrath: “Validity is not a commodity that can be purchased with techniques……..Rather, validity is like integrity, character, and quality, to be assessed relative to purposes and circumstances” (1985, p.13).

As I have been looking into the cultures of inquiry via my assignments for the MALAT program at Royal Roads University (RRU), I look back on the past few terms and have noted that I have, indeed, been researching through various pilot projects which I have received funding for! I have also been surprised at how much I have enjoyed these projects and that there has been so much change which has occurred as a result. These research projects were researcher-centered in every way and to a very positive end result!

Bentz, V.M. & Shapiro, J.J. (1998).  Mindful inquiry in social research. Thousand Oaks, A:Sage.  Retrieved

from the Ebscohost e-book database.

Brinberg, D., & McGrath, J. E. (1985). Validity and the research process. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Action Research

In recent introduction to the many cultures of inquiry, I was drawn to action research. I believe this is the case due to its ability to raise awareness of a concern or issue, or to contribute to change. With so many plights of mankind, even in this day and age, it is comforting to know that change is possible.

Action research is, in comparison with other research traditions, unique in that it is cyclic, “flexible in character and responsive to participants’ changing needs as findings are repeatedly red back to them, reflected on and, perhaps, acted on” (Reader, 2012, p. 444). What I find most appealing is that the participants are involved and have a very hands-on and invested part in the research. Through this involvement, they become researchers themselves so there is a level of empowerment and enabling – they are invested. The participants gain knowledge and insight into how change can begin, generating the drive to make change happen. The initiating researcher becomes the facilitator and, unlike other approaches to research, in not objective at all but is ‘’in it’.

When there is involvement of those who benefit from the result, there is a powerful awakening of power, the realization that change is possible and that they have the ability to start the process.

References:

Reader, A. M. (2012). Health Policy and Systems Research. (L. Gilson, Ed.)Health Policy, 104(3), 205. World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22365103

Copyright – Open Access vs Traditional publishing

Following the review of a presentation on the topic of Copyright Licensing and all the various forms of licensure, I must say that there is much to consider.  As the internet has become a place for information to be shared, presented, and gained, it certainly has impacted the laws surrounding the use of information, images, videos, etc..

As an educator, it has become increasingly important I keep abreast of the lastest laws and any changes made. In expecting my students to abide by these laws in the presentation of their work, I must understand and abide by those same laws.

What I found very interesting today was the discussion surrounding open access vs traditional publishing. This is a topic which I need to look into more fully.  I would like to take some time to review the pros and cons of each to reach my own consensus.  There was mention of the idea that although open access publishing does not bring financial gain in the tradtional sense, it allows for the possibility of greater readership following which could lend itself to the increase in ones reputation within a community.  This is logical and I would like to look at this a bit further – look at the flip side to this and more fully investigate the traditional publishing perspective.

Hello world!

As a new Blogger, I hope to use this sight to share reflections on recent activity and learning which has taken place in relation to my student progress in the MALAT program at RRU.  I value the importance of reflection and sharing of views.  I invite conversation surrounding my postings in an environment of collaboration, trust and respect for difffering viewpoints.

”A class of doctrines is not a disaster, it is an opportunity”

                                                               ~ John Cardinal Newman

Varying opinions on a topic are an opportunity to see that topic through another’s lens.