The Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry: A Comprehensive Overview of Faculty Resources and Educational Technology
The Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, part of the University of the Pacific, is dedicated to fostering an environment of continuous learning and professional development for its faculty, staff, and students. This commitment is evident in the robust array of resources and programs designed to enhance teaching, assessment, and engagement within the academic community. At the core of these initiatives lies a strategic integration of technology, particularly the university's learning management system, Canvas, alongside a variety of specialized tools and platforms aimed at enriching the educational experience.
Faculty Development and Support Initiatives
The Dugoni School recognizes the multifaceted nature of dental education and provides a structured approach to faculty development. New faculty members are welcomed through a comprehensive orientation program. This includes detailed presentations covering crucial aspects such as administration, absence protocols, and clinical procedures. To further aid their integration, new faculty receive a dedicated information folder, accessible via the Pac Manual Guidebook, and are provided with a tour of the facilities and introductions to their colleagues. A mentorship program pairs new faculty with experienced members for shadowing opportunities, ensuring a smooth transition and practical guidance. The orientation process is strategically scheduled, with Week 3 of each quarter designated for faculty orientation and Week 10 for grading-related discussions. These dedicated weeks are separate from the ongoing faculty cross-training initiatives.
Beyond initial onboarding, the school champions ongoing professional growth through several key programs. The Faculty Development Day (FDD) is a quarterly event meticulously planned to advance the skills of dental faculty across diverse domains. These domains include biomedical sciences, research methodologies, clinical practice, emerging industry trends, and the pedagogy of dental education. FDD sessions are typically held on the Tuesday of final examination week, providing a focused opportunity for faculty to engage with cutting-edge knowledge and practices.
Biomedical Science Seminars offer a deep dive into fundamental scientific principles and their direct application in the field of dentistry. These seminars are conducted in person, allowing for direct interaction and discussion. Complementing these are the Lunch and Learn Seminars, a series of one-hour sessions held during lunchtime. These seminars emphasize active learning and explore innovative pedagogical approaches, particularly those associated with emerging technologies.
For those seeking to enhance their understanding and skills in dental education itself, the Multi-institutional Dental Education Exchange (DEE) plays a vital role. This collaborative group, comprising five leading dental schools-University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University, University of the Pacific, and Boston University-aims to deepen the collective understanding of critical issues in dental education and foster collaboration in refining teaching skills. Each year, one participating institution hosts a virtual session via Zoom, ensuring accessibility and broad participation.
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A cornerstone of pedagogical development is the Teaching & Assessment in Dental Education (TADE) course. Previously known as the Course Director Orientation, TADE is accessible to all Dugoni faculty and focuses on evidence-based learning design and assessment principles. This course is uniquely structured as a self-paced program hosted on Canvas, the university's learning management system. Its modular design empowers participants to select content that best aligns with their individual interests and teaching requirements, offering a flexible and personalized learning journey.
In-House Resources for Course Design and Assessment
The Dugoni School has proactively developed a suite of in-house resources to support faculty in course planning and design. A notable offering is the "Teaching and Assessment in Dental Education - Short Course." This self-paced online course provides a foundational understanding of evidence-based educational design, proving beneficial for both new and experienced course directors. Minor updates were implemented in 2024 to ensure its continued relevance.
For the practical aspects of course management, the school provides a Dugoni syllabus template in Word format. This template meticulously outlines the essential sections and information required for a comprehensive course syllabus. It notably includes a sample policy for generative artificial intelligence (AI) and provides guidance on citing generative AI tools in APA format, reflecting the evolving landscape of academic integrity. The template has received approval from the dental school's Curriculum Committee and offers several examples of effective module organization. Faculty can self-enroll in the Canvas template site using their Pacific credentials, with updates made in May 2025.
To ensure consistency and quality in course delivery, a Dugoni Canvas site and syllabus checklist is available for use by department chairs and vice chairs during their review of Canvas sites and syllabi. For inquiries or support regarding this checklist, faculty can reach out to Dr. Terry Hover.
The school also provides specific guidance for developing case studies, such as the NBDHE case development guide. For assessment, a range of techniques and resources are available. This includes information on item analysis, a crucial metric for evaluating the effectiveness of assessment questions, with a PDF guide specifically for Pacific Dugoni. Furthermore, resources on various classroom assessment techniques (CATS) are provided, drawing from esteemed institutions like George Washington University and Vanderbilt University. Concept mapping resources from Carnegie Mellon University and digital timelines from Vanderbilt University are also available to aid in visualizing complex information. Guidance on assessing group work, also from Carnegie Mellon University, addresses the challenges and strategies for evaluating collaborative learning. The school emphasizes the importance of formative assessment, with resources available to explore how it can cultivate medical students' competencies. Meixun Sinky Zheng, PhD, from the Office of Academic Affairs, is the point of contact for consultation on teaching and learning tools.
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Technology Integration for Enhanced Learning
The Dugoni School actively leverages technology to enhance the learning experience, providing faculty with access to a range of digital tools and platforms. For virtual collaboration and instruction, Zoom is the university's designated virtual meeting system, with comprehensive operating guides for Classroom 514 available, including video tutorials created by IT in March 2026. Resources for managing breakout groups, conducting polls, and maximizing online learning with Zoom are also provided.
For secure, computer-based testing, ExamSoft serves as the school's platform. Faculty can access Dugoni School's question tagging guidelines and resources for interpreting ExamSoft item analysis reports.
Canvas, the university's learning management system, is central to the digital learning environment. Comprehensive faculty tutorials are available, with specific guides on adding requirements and prerequisites to modules, creating rubrics, and implementing moderated grading.
Poll Everywhere is an audience response system that allows for instant collection of student feedback and responses from any mobile device. Osmosis, a learning platform offering animated videos and resources on basic sciences, medical, and dental topics, provides complimentary access to all D1 and DH students. Faculty are encouraged to explore videos co-developed by Dugoni faculty with Osmosis.
VoiceThread is a web-based tool enabling instructors to create interactive presentations and invite student engagement through direct comments on slides. Resources for integrating VoiceThread into Canvas and for conducting virtual medical case discussions are available, with the latter updated in January 2025.
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SoftChalk is a cloud-based e-learning design tool that empowers instructors to build interactive lessons incorporating diverse learning activities. Sample activities and lesson templates, along with technical assistance, are provided.
Thinglink is an authoring tool for crafting immersive learning experiences, including branching scenarios, virtual escape rooms, and virtual realities, with interactive tags on images and videos. Resources are available for using Thinglink to create AI-powered scenarios, virtual escape rooms for medical and nursing education, and even for leveraging Canva to design visuals for Thinglink activities. A Pano to 360º Photosphere Converter is also available to transform phone-captured images into immersive 360-degree views.
Nearpod is an all-in-one platform for presenting, engaging, and assessing students, with demo lessons and video tutorials available. ScreenPal offers easy-to-use screen capture for creating video tutorials, while Videoscribe, Powtoon, and Doodly provide tools for creating animated videos and whiteboard animations. EdPuzzle facilitates active video-based learning by embedding time-stamped questions within videos.
For gamified learning, Jeopardylabs is a web-based tool for creating jeopardy-style games. Mindmeister aids students in creating concept maps, and Quizlet is a versatile tool for developing flashcards and can be used for e-portfolios, with Yola and Google Sites noted as alternatives. Bioart is a tool for preparing figures for publication or lecture slides.
Software and IT Support
The San Francisco campus offers a list of available software and applications, accessible with login credentials. Raybel Ramos, Associate Dean for Information Technology, can provide further details. Similarly, a list of university-wide software, encompassing design, reference management, and statistical packages, is available to students and faculty, also requiring login access. Raybel Ramos is the contact for these resources as well.
The CUBE and Generative AI Resources
The CUBE, a technology-rich collaborative space within the university library, actively partners with faculty, staff, and students to develop digital tools for teaching, learning, and research, including expertise in 3D printing, AR, VR, drones, and multimedia production.
In response to the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, the Dugoni School provides extensive resources to help leverage generative AI (GenAI) for academic purposes. Ongoing professional development sessions, including seminars and workshops, are offered, alongside on-demand resources. The Dugoni School has established specific guidelines for responsible GenAI use: the "Dugoni Guidelines for Responsible GenAI." These guidelines are designed to support faculty, staff, students, and residents in utilizing GenAI effectively and ethically across teaching, learning, research, clinical care, and administrative tasks. All members of the university community are expected to review these guidelines prior to engaging with GenAI in their work. Faculty are also encouraged to ensure their students are aware of and review these guidelines to foster responsible usage. Mentors guiding students in research are specifically advised to review the guidelines with their mentees. These guidelines were last updated on March 20, 2025.
Additional resources on GenAI are curated from external institutions. The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) offers a statement on generative AI, emphasizing policies that prohibit sharing any VUMC data, including patient and clinical data (even if de-identified), research data, proprietary operational data, and intellectual property, with public-facing generative AI tools. The University of South Florida provides insights into copyright and GenAI, discussing fair use and potential infringement risks related to AI training data. For research applications, the University of Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS) offers a collection of tutorials on using GenAI for research. Publisher policies on GenAI from major entities like Elsevier, Sage, Nature, PLOS ONE, and Taylor and Francis are also made available by the University of South Florida.
For pedagogical applications, the University of the Pacific's Center for Teaching & Learning offers AI and pedagogy resources, including documents on assignment redesign and syllabus language, accessible via a SharePoint site requiring Pacific credentials. The University of the Pacific library has also developed a collection of resources for students, with a subject guide titled "Artificial intelligence for students" aimed at enhancing understanding of AI and its academic applications.
Recommended readings delve into specific aspects of AI. "AI and HIPAA: A primer" discusses the impact of AI on HIPAA regulations. Anthropic's Education Reports explore how university students and educators utilize Claude, while OpenAI's studies detail how individuals use ChatGPT. A Fortune article highlights dueling usage studies showing ChatGPT's dominance in personal use and Claude's edge in business. An Inside Higher Ed article, "It’s Time to Pull the Plug on ChatGPT at Cal State," raises concerns about AI's potential risks to student mental health, referencing recent lawsuits. A randomized trial study by UCLA Health, "Ambient AI Scribes in Clinical Practice," evaluates the effectiveness of AI-powered tools for recording patient encounters and generating clinical notes.
The Dugoni School provides access to several GenAI tools, with an asterisk indicating institutional licenses. These include Microsoft's Co-pilot (accessible with Pacific credentials), Scopus AI for literature review integrated into library databases (requiring Pacific credentials), ChatGPT for chat, file uploads, and data analysis, and Claude.AI for chat and file uploads. ChatPDF allows users to upload PDFs and query their content. Synthesia and Heygen enable the creation of videos with AI avatars and voiceovers. Canva AI offers AI-powered tools for graphic design, and NotebookLM, a free tool powered by Google's Gemini AI model, acts as a personalized AI research assistant capable of summarizing documents and hosting interactive discussions. OpenEvidence AI is a specialized AI tool for medical information. AI Xploria offers a comprehensive directory of AI tools categorized for exploration.
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