The Evolution of an Information Literacy Course for International Dentists Over Seven Years

Abstract

Like many dental schools in the United States, the dental school in this study has an international dentist program (IDP) which matriculates a small number of international students with dental degrees from countries outside the US, many of whom are practicing dentists with years of experience, through an accelerated and intensive curriculum that allows them to graduate with a US Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree in less time than traditional students. One of the biggest challenges of this program is to take numerous students from wildly different educational and other backgrounds and normalize fundamental skills to ensure success in the DDS program. Despite being advanced students, some have never had any kind of information literacy training or experience with informational research. In the first part of the first year of the program, the IDP students are immersed in intensive didactic and clinical coursework and experiences that not only seek to normalize them among one another, but also ensure that they have equivalent skills to advanced DDS students, whose cohort they join in fall of their first year. One of the skills addressed in their early, intensive didactic courses is information literacy including evidence-based practice. This curriculum has undergone several changes and evolved significantly over the seven years it has been deployed. There have been significant changes in its timing, expansions in number of classes and information covered, and how it shares concurrent timing with other modules both as a standalone course as well as under different umbrella courses. This presentation evaluates the changes it has underwent through the lens of longitudinal student self-assessments and other in-class assessments throughout the past seven years. This case study will hopefully be of use to any information literacy instructors, particularly those involved with international students, who have issues with timing of sessions and assessment of students in the context of an integrated and/or demanding curriculum.