Dental mascots - taking innovations to new heights!
This tutorial strategy assists 1st Year Dental Technology students to learn the morphological features of teeth. The board game is designed to promote literacy and retaining with understanding the content area of Tooth Morphology, a discipline that requires a significant amount of memorization, recall, association and application. The chief element of the board game is that the abstract content is merged with game characteristics and learners are able to repeat cycles within the game context, making them active participants in knowledge acquisition.
This leaning intervention assists 1st Year Dental Technology students to learn the structural and functional anatomy of the muscles of mastication and facial expression. Macromedia® Flash™ technology is used to provoke and engage students with the multiple choice questions, which are presented both in script and image forms. Interactive design mechanisms are also used where student success in the game is measured by linking student’s score to performance zones.
The Dental Technology education games will not replace a lecturer, mentor or tutor as they curriculum-matched innovative tutorials designed to supplement teaching and to help students’ learn in a fun yet effective manner.
Prof Prinsloo, the director of Technology Transfer & Innovation at the Durban University of Technology conducted an international study tour to Germany, Belgium & Canada in September 2008. The purpose of the tour was to identify and transfer workable and best practice models in technology transfer.Prof Prinsloo was part of a delegation of fifteen members from universities of technology that visited Steinbeiss University in Germany and various other technology transfer institutions in Berlin. These visits were part of the joint venture between GTZ (German Technology Corporation) & Tshumisano. The Steinbeiss model for technology transfer is an international success recipe and the visit created exciting opportunities for collaborative projects on wind power generation in Africa with German Technology Assistance. This was an immediate opportunity for DUT as work is being conducted at the institution with respect to renewable energy.
The visit to Belgium also yielded positive results. An investigation was conducted into operation and procedures of the world-renowned Leuven Research Development Centre. The DUT TTI unit is looking to adapt a similar model for the delivery of Third Stream Income. Meetings were conducted with managers at this facility pertaining to models for third stream income generation and governance technology projects. The investigation provided clear inputs into the route DUT should adopt with respect to the private work policy as well as the formation of a commercial unit on campus in accordance with the new Third Stream Income Policy.
In Canada, the delegates attended the Fifth Annual Conference of the International Technology Network entitled "Implementing Regional Innovation Strategies" where an excellent insight was gained into the successful regional development strategies in a number of institutions across Europe. These models showed remarkable similarity and the common features of these networks will automatically be implemented at DUT as part of the collaborative venture with Leuven University. A positive outcome at the conference was that international experts have shown interest in working with South Africa in the future.
Overall the tour proved to be extremely successful and productive and the information and knowledge gained will undoubtedly assist the Technology Transfer & Innovation unit of the DUT to implement a strategy that can be of an international standard.