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You can spot a freshman at New Jersey Dental School (NJDS) easily. The age factor isn't the dead giveaway and neither is that lost-in-space look new students often wear uneasily. Watch for the lap-tops, suggests Fotinos Panagakos, DMD, acting associate dean of academic affairs. In August, 87 classmates from across the U.S. and as far away as Nigeria received an IBM Think Pad lap-top computer, a color ink jet printer, external zip drive, carrying case and a single DVD which contains a four-year educational curriculum including more than 100 dental textbooks, 40 laboratory manuals, slides, graphics, e-mail, space for 20 hours of video and the capacity for creating things like their own post-it notes. Panagakos has been telling them, "You are the first class to transition from paper to electronic texts. This is a very exciting time not only for you but for the entire University. It's a big deal." In the library, the lectures, outside the dental clinic, under the trees on the plaza on sunny days, the lap-tops are everywhere. Panagakos says, "The students are very excited about the new e-curriculum. In a sense, this is a pilot program for the rest of the University and assessments are going to be made on how we do." While the textbooks, diagrams, slides, charts and photos still used by second, third and fourth year dental students weigh in at a hefty 400 pounds and more than 2 million pages, the lap-top is only 5 pounds and the DVD itself is less than an ounce. Freshman Virginia Suarez, a Rutgers University psychology and French graduate, whose first choice of dental schools was UMDNJ, says, "I carry mine all over. It took me time to get used to and I do miss books sometimes. You just want to pick up a text and start highlighting by hand but we have a highlight feature on the DVD, too. I get a little tired reading the computer screen occasionally and I do remember turning to the person next to me in one of the early orientation sessions to complain about the trackpoint." Instead of a mouse or the kind of track ball on some portable computers, scanning is done with a little red, touch-sensitive ball in the center of the keyboard. "I like it a lot now," Suarez admits. "It's easy." She also loves the search feature. "If I don't understand something during a lecture, all I have to do is type it into my lap-top and the correct reference and explanation will come up right away, even from several sources." Gone are the days of library searches or pouring through textbook tables of contents and indexes to figure out what a professor might have been explaining in class. Making the connection across the complete long-term dental school curriculum is easier, too. For instance, a freshman in an introductory anatomy class, searching the word "maxilla," would learn why understanding the structure of the jaw might help later in advanced orthodontics. The DVD illustrations are full-page color graphics, an improvement over textbooks which rely on a full measure of black and white to keep printing costs down. Surgical pictures and anatomical photos are clearer in color. Several screens can be opened simultaneously although not side by side, Suarez explains. "Windows can only be layered on top of one another now but I understand the company is working with the school to improve this feature." References to outside books and materials, including Power Point presentations designed by NJDS faculty, are also on the disk, which will be exchanged twice a year for an updated version. Images can also be scanned right into notes taken during classes. UMDNJ is one of only five dental schools in the country with the e-curriculum technology. Vital Source Technologies, the developer, began working with NJDS three years ago and company representatives have been on campus often to aid faculty, administration and students implementing the system. "This has been a long process," Panagakos says. To make sure professors are just as familiar with the resource as students, lap-tops were also purchased for each academic department in the dental school as well as for the NJMS faculty who teach dental students basic science courses. A 24-hour-a-day, company information help line exists to answer questions. Meanwhile, repairs for mishaps with lap-tops are handled by NJDS computer support staff, according to Suarez, who hadn't heard of any classmates' computer disasters.
The cost of the new technology, approximately $6,000 per student, is included in NJDS tuition and fees and can be supported by federal and state financial aid for students who qualify. Yet, the price is comparable to textbook expenditures, especially when all four years' of educational resources and every reference a professor might request, are considered. Suarez admits, "Students don't always buy the recommended books." According to one report, only 10 percent of dental students actually purchase the complete set of books on a syllabus. Some try to get by with loaners or even less. The DVD e-curriculum actually puts everyone on the same digital page, says Panagakos, who used to worry when faculty relied on handouts of supplemental materials for which there might be copyright infringement. Because NJDS, through Vital Source, has licensed the use of the publishers' dental textbooks in electronic format, that concern is gone. "A lot of the upperclassmen are jealous," Suarez says, zipping up her black carrying case, getting ready for class. "...of the lap-top, I mean," she adds. "Actually, there is a camaraderie here. I've heard stories about the heated competition for specialties and residencies at other dental schools but for the most part, we study together and support one another. For the next three and a half years of my life, classes will take us from eight to five, Monday through Friday, but we manage to socialize. We like to hang out in Hoboken on weekends." Though no one else in her family is a dentist, Suarez was drawn to the profession because of all the new cosmetic options. "They make going to the dentist more gratifying for both the patient and the doctor," she says. A friend with a shy smile approaches Virginia in the library and, with a look of genuine concern, asks, "How are you?" "Okay, I guess," she sighs. Courses in physiology, histology, dental anatomy, dental materials and introduction to the dental profession are on the minds of all freshmen. "We'll actually start performing exams and simple cleanings on each other later which is a little scary but I'm glad we won't be using actual patients yet. At least, dental students know what's coming," she laughs...especially this crop of newcomers who have it all laid out, digitally speaking.
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Vital
Source claims that UMDNJ has the most successful orientation and training
program of any school integrating the new digital technology. When Panagakos
told the company, "I'll bet you say that to all the schools,"
they disagreed. "No, UMDNJ is the best," they insisted. NJDS
plans to use this program as a magnet for admissions and recruitment of
faculty. "Even the members of the UMDNJ Board of Trustees came up
to me in amazement when I made a presentation about the new e-curriculum,
"Panagakos says. 