Week #6 - Blog Post #3: Partner Recap
I had a very interesting and thorough discussion with my partner regarding trends in our field and trends in adult education. My partner happens to teach at the same college as I do so it made for a great discussion. We both have 27 years of clinical dental experience so our views on trends in our field are very similar. We both starting our teaching careers over the last two years and we are also seeing a lot of similarities in trends in adult education.
Some of the ideas that we discussed with respect trends in our field were, the significant growth of digital dentistry including intraoral scanners and CAD/CAM restorations. We also discussed the use of AI with respect to patient chart entries. We also discussed patients’ demands for cosmetic and aesthetic dentistry including clear aligners, whitening and veneers.
Another area we discussed was how social media is contributing to marketing in dentistry. Offices are not only using social media platforms to market their services, but they are also marketing themselves through influencers or dentists are becoming influencers by posting humorous videos to gain online attention.
We also discussed how common DSO’s (Dental Services Organization) are in the dental field. Corporate dental offices were not common years ago, but most offices have now been purchased by various corporations and are operating on a larger scale.
We also discussed how quickly dentistry is evolving and depending on the dental office or dentist, is how much you will potentially be exposed to various new equipment or procedures.
My partner and I then discussed trends that we see in adult education. We have noticed how common online learning is today and how many mature adults are in our classrooms. Online learning allows are students the flexibility of being able to work, parent and educate themselves.
We also discussed how mature adult students also must have impeccable time management skills to balance all the areas in their lives. We discussed how mature adult students are also having to learn how to learn and perhaps learn online platforms like Microsoft Teams and use electronic textbooks which may not have been required when they went to post secondary school in the past.
The other trend in adult education that we have seen is English as a second language students and various cultural differences in our classrooms. This has been challenging as an English-speaking instructor to provide students with study strategies when language barriers are present
Jess and I had a great conversation, it was evident that we have both seen a lot of similar trends happening in the dental world. It is fascinating to reflect on these trends with someone that has had a similar career and is now working as an educator.