Supporting undergraduate dental students to become effective self-assessors in clinical settings

Abstract

The hidden nature of dentistry and changing dental practice environment requires our graduates to be effective self-assessors, thereby ensuring they can address their learning needs. This showcase will present our approach to supporting development of first-year dental students self-assessment attributes. Our approach involves workshops and practising self-assessment with the aim of improving their clinic performance. Current theory and research indicate that if students do not develop an understanding of the assessment processes, including the use of explicit criteria and standards, and experience these tools in activities involving discussion of exemplars and practice, then their learning outcomes will be limited. Participants will be asked to work through, discuss and critique sections of some activities we have developed, using recommendations from the literature. The outcomes from these activities will inform how our self-assessment/feedback activities can be designed to support development of dental graduates as effective life-long learners.