20 March 2007

Council Program: Ethical Lapses by Students: Opportunities for Instructional Learning
Room: Morial Convention Center - 297

Principal Coordinators: Dr. Marilyn Lantz, Dr. Todd Thierer
Presenters: Prof. Pamela Zarkowski, Dr. Lawrence Garetto, Dr. Mildred McClain, Connie Mobley, PhD, RD

FOCUS: Excellence in the Academy

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: This program will create an opportunity for participants to explore in depth a range of possible institutional responses to student academic misconduct using a "systems" framework. It will offer participants an opportunity to reflect on and refine their instructional methods and explore administrative interventions to address academic misconduct. In addition, it will also help participants develop an understanding of how the unintended consequences of our "formal" curricula can undermine our efforts to create learning environments that support integrity.

Cosponsored by the Council of Hospitals and Advanced Education Programs, Council of Faculties, Council of Sections, Section on Academic Affairs, Section on Behavioral Sciences, Section on Dental School Admission Officers, Section on Postdoctoral General Dentistry, Section on Practice Administration, Section on Student Affairs and Financial Aid, and American Society for Dental Ethics.
All dental schools and all dental school programs— graduate/postdoctoral, predoctoral, and allied dental—must deal with lapses in professionalism by their students. The goal of this program is to provide a forum for discussing a range of institutional responses to address student academic misconduct, and particularly to move toward developing a "systems" framework for understanding, managing, and ultimately reducing the incidence of academic misconduct. The program will discuss curricular as well as administrative strategies for dealing with academic misconduct and for encouraging a culture of integrity. It will also explore the role of the "hidden curriculum" as an environmental threat to professionalism and will describe why this hidden curriculum must be considered as faculty plan interventions to address academic misconduct and foster a culture of integrity in dental schools. This program will offer participants an opportunity to reflect on and refine their instructional methods and explore administrative interventions to address academic misconduct. In addition, it will help participants develop an understanding of how the unintended consequences of our "formal" curricula can undermine our efforts to create learning environments that support integrity.