GSDM Students Create New Dental School Curriculums at Second Annual Hack-a-Thon
A group of five students from Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) collaborated with students from three other area dental schools on Saturday, February 20, 2016, to design innovative dental school curriculums. The students were participating in the second annual American Dental Education Association (ADEA) New England Curriculum Hack-a-Thon.
The ADEA New England Curriculum Hack-a-Thon allows students from area dental schools to come together and compete to develop the best curriculum for a fictitious dental school. The students, who play the roles as deans and faculty members, are broken up into intercollegiate teams of about six.
The teams are given three hours to create a full pre-doctoral dental school curriculum focused on public health, research, pre-clinical exposure, and didactic sciences. They then present to the Hack-a-Thons judges—deans and faculty members from the participating schools. The top two teams are awarded prizes.
The 2016 ADEA New England Curriculum Hack-a-Thon featured a total of 38 students from GSDM, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, and the University of New England College of Dental Medicine.
Tufts University School of Dental Medicine Dean Huw F. Thomas opened the event with a speech in which he talked about the challenges dental schools face with the evolution of new technology and the question of how best to incorporate this new technology into the curriculum.
After Dean Thomas’ speech, the students were split up into different teams and given three hours to brainstorm ideas for their dental school curriculum and synthesize those ideas into a solidified curriculum.
Lucy Dang DMD 17, who participated in—and helped plan—the 2016 ADEA New England Curriculum Hack-a-Thon, said that the students thought of many creative ideas for improving the dental school curriculum.
“One team thought that a business component should be built into every dental school curriculum, another thought that community service was paramount,” said Ms. Dang. “It was great to learn more about the existing curriculum at the other participating schools while also hearing many suggestions for how they can be improved.”
Dr. Michael Slesnick, Clinical Instructor in GSDM’s Department of General Dentistry and Group Practice Leader in the Pre-doctoral Patient Treatment Center, volunteered his time to serve as a judge at the event.
“I was struck by the creativity of the student teams,” said Dr. Slesnick. “Maybe because this was their first experience of looking at dental school from an academic’s perspective, they were free to think way outside the box. Their energy and desire to rethink the curriculum was inspiring.”
This was the second time that GSDM students participated in the Hack-a-Thon. Arielle Curtis DMD 16 and Dr. Rushil Dang AS 15 took part in 2015. Dr. Neal Fleisher, Clinical Professor in the Department of General Dentistry and Director of Pre-doctoral Periodontology, also participated in the Hack-a-Thon in 2015 as a judge.
The GSDM Students who participated in and/or helped plan the 2016 ADEA New England Curriculum Hack-a-Thon were Lucy Dang DMD 17; Scott Jegard DMD 18; Safeer Jiwa DMD 17; Bhoomi Kotak AS 17; Luri Lee DMD 16; and Joanna Song DMD 17.
“I am very impressed with the initiative shown by the DMD students who participated in the Hack-a-Thon event, and I am thankful that these students were afforded the opportunity to think critically about the concept of a dental school curriculum,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter.