Using the BLASST Sessional Staff Standards Framework to sustainably support sessional dental educators Good Practice at the BLASST National Leadership Summit 2015

Who are we? School of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Science, The University of Adelaide University of Adelaide2 Committed to supporting our students through supporting of our sessional staff Year 2 BDS Clinic Co- coordinator; Clinic tutor Tutor Co-ordinator Dr Dimitra Lekkas Lecturer, ILA Co-ordinator Associate Professor Tracey Winning

Our Good Practice example: What is it? Majority of clinical/simulation education provided by sessional staff (n= 150 staff for 515 U/G students) Conducted BLASST Benchmarking workshops – To benchmark current practices in supporting sessional clinical educators/supervisors  supports student learning – To develop action plans University of Adelaide3 Sessional staff receive little or ad-hoc feedback on their performance (NewCoord 2) Co-ordinators provide clinical assessment rubrics. Sessional staff..paid to attend moderation meetings. …training to support tutors to undertake summative assessment (ExpCoordClin 4) I haven’t attended all workshops …. But I do abide with Uni and ADH policies as they affect me (ExpClin 1)

How it worked Preparation & Organisation Ethics approval was obtained (H ) Two workshops using the BLASST SSSF/B-BIT Tool (2014) Facilitated by tutor co-ordinator and School Learning & Teaching (L&T) committee member Within one School, University of Adelaide Benchmarking Levels: ‘individual’ sessional educator and ‘departmental/co-ordinator’ University of Adelaide4

Critical success factors University of Adelaide5 BLASST guide Evaluation Framework Templates for workshop BLASST website Commitment to continue to improve learning experience of students by supporting sessional staff Facilitators completed the B_BIT tool prior to workshop to improve understanding and inform advice for users Enthusiasm of academic co-ordinators Active participation of sessional tutors Preparation & Organisation

Positive outcomes: generation of action plans University of Adelaide6 “Tutors are not invited to contribute towards L&T decisions” (Co-ord exp Clin Oct) “Tutors receive minimal feedback from the department” (Co-ord exp Clin Oct) “I only supply feedback on student performance” (Clin tutor exp 3 Oct) Establish a sessional educator representative on the School L&T committee Implement a School-wide plan for sessional educators to receive feedback on performance Use sessional educator e- newsletter to promote avenues for providing feedback to co-ordinators

Resourcing needed University of Adelaide7 Administrative staff Computer suite with networked printer Break-out room Recognition of schools’ responsibility to support sessional staff ‘In-house’ resources Printing costs Car-parking reimbursement Catering Funds Important to plan ahead (even if low risk project) Ethical approval

Challenges and areas for improvement University of Adelaide8 11 sessional staff co-ordinators (48% co-ordinators) only 12 sessional educators attended (11.4%; invitations were sent to 105 sessional educators) Attendance related to only evening workshops or sessional staff being unclear of benefits. Limited attendance Alternative timing eg link with other sessional staff workshops Other incentives to attend eg CPD certificate  corroborate sessional educators’ experiences and  monitor the impact of our actions plans Repeat the workshops in 2015

Evidence of impact/success University of Adelaide9 Meeting benchmarks for various criteria at both individual/coordinator levels Identified gaps in our approach Developed action plans linked to benchmarking standards Preliminary findings presented at Aust & NZ Health Professional Educators Conference (July 2014) Outcomes of Benchmarking Sessional educator Newsletter links and reminder re support, processes (for coordinators and sessional staff)  Sessional tutor contributes on L&T issues directly to staff or via newsletter Approval of sessional tutor to be part of the L&T committee  Sessional tutor rep able to attend meetings, making contributions to L&T decisions; documentation on minutes Plan developed for student feedback for sessional tutors  Every sessional tutor in the school receives feedback from 1-2 groups of students; completes a reflection form and discusses outcomes with their co-ordinators. Evidence of impact of Action plans