Presentation from 'Future Technology' strand at the CDE’s Research and Innovation in Distance Education and eLearning conference, held at Senate House London on 1 November 2013. Conducted by Professor Margaret Cox, Dr Jonathan San Diego and Dr Barry Quinn (King's College London). Audio of the session and more details can be found at www.cde.london.ac.uk.

1. Implications of Touch Technologies
on Enhancing Teaching and Learning
in Higher Education
Margaret J. Cox, Jonathan P. San Diego
and Barry Quinn
The Dental Institute - King’s College London
Research and Innovation in Distance Education and E-learning
November 1st 2013
1

2. Outline
• Introduction and background of the hapTEL project
• Explanation of haptics and its place in the HE curriculum
• Dental case study: goals, study design, tasks, methods,
results
• Pedagogical and design considerations and implications
for distance education and other future technologies
• Examples for training and education at a distance and
other disciplines
• Conclusions and implications for HE education research
and development
2

3. Rationale for the original project
40 years evidence of
positive impact of TEL on
students’ learning
Simulations, generic
Software, online resources
Sensors, programming
Growth in use of TEL
in dental education
Little research into
new multimedia impact
in post-compulsory
education
Haptics provides
new representation
systems and immersion
in virtual environments
Impact on students’
learning; epistemologies;
manual skills;
conceptual understanding;
3

4. Funders for hapTEL projects
2007 – 2011 (Award Number: RES-139-25-0387)
•UK Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Research
Programme (within ESRC)
•UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
•UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC)
•UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
2012 - 2014
•Technology Strategy Board
•King’s College Teaching Fund
4

5. hapTEL Interdisciplinary team and
partners
King’s College Staff and Post-graduate Students
Dental Institute (Cox, San Diego, Quinn + 20)
Department of Education and Professional Studies (Cox)
School of Nursing and Midwifery (Fordham-Clarke)
School of Medicine (Butchers)
School of Robotics (Altheofar)
University of Reading - Cybernetics team (Harwin, Barrow, Tse)
University of Portsmouth – Dental Academy (Holmes, Wynne)
Birmingham City University Engineering (Elson)
University of the Arts - London (Wright)
Generic Robotics – (Barrow and colleagues)
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6. 6

7. Educational
Evaluation
Framework
Factors affecting
learning experiences
(Entwistle, 1987)
77

8. BARRY QUINN
8

9. Goals and issues for Dental
Education
Undergraduate
Dental Education
Developing the learner
to become a practising
professional
Using tactile devices
hand-eye
Co-ordination
Manipulative skills
Spatial reasoning
skills
Changing the way
Professionals work: e.g.
in teams with DCPs
Need to provide satisfactory
and sufficient
feedback to students
Increasing size of
student cohorts
9

10. Requirements of the Dental
curriculum
• Dental curriculum
– Relevance of haptics technology
– Priorities and issues
• Current practices
– ‘Biological vs mechanistic’
– Cavity cutting on plastic and discarded teeth
– Formative assessment
• Perceived integration constraints
– Ethics (Institutional requirements and patients)
– Risks and entitlements
10

11. Clinical concepts and skills for
undergraduate dental students
•
•
•
•
•
Caries removal
Depth of the cavity
Angle of entry into the tooth
Speed of the bur
Different tactile sensations in cutting between
different tissues
• Cavity design
• Time available for the task and the actual time
taken
11

12. Traditional
• Removal of artificial
decayed material on a
plastic tooth
• Three sessions: Two
attempts per session
hapTEL
• Removal of virtual
decayed material on
a virtual tooth located
in a jaw
• Three sessions: as
many attempts as
they wish within a
given time per
session
12

13. Graphic models
13

14. Strand 3 - Research design and methods
to measure students‘ learning
• Pre and post tests
• Spatial reasoning; fine motor skills; 3-D perceptions
• Attitudes towards ICT and haptics
• Video observations of students’ practices in the
laboratories
• Task performance in traditional and hapTEL laboratories
• Final Cavity preparation task
• Post-lab self assessment task
14

15. Examples of assessment techniques
15

16. Study Design (Large scale trials)
16

17. 17

18. Clinical skills assessment methods
• Traditional methods
– Observation by tutors during manikin-head work
– Reviewing finished work at end of treatment/course
– Practical examination of specific clinical skills tasks
• TEL methods
Based on logs, screen capture and live feedback
– Reviewing in-progress virtual clinical treatment on
screen
– Post-evaluation of each recorded student’s task
procedure
– Examining series of completed of tasks
18

19. Research methods to measure curriculum
practice and teachers’ pedagogies
•
•
•
•
Interviews with tutors
Observations of both experimental and control groups
Designing specific dental tasks
Self-assessment by students of their task
performances
• Tutor assessment
• Criteria based assessment of final tasks
• Attitude test of tutors
19

20. Educational impact results
• hapTEL ‘dental chair’ provided individual feedback to each
student who didn’t have to wait for the tutor to provide
feedback
• TEL activity enabled the students to have multiple attempts to
improve their practice compared with the traditional activity
which was limited to two plastic teeth per student per session.
• 1 plastic tooth costs £16. £13,800 per term for 144 students
• hapTEL tooth could be enlarged 6-times by the students so they
could see the result of their cavity preparation, and learn about
accurate self assessment
• hapTEL ‘dental chair’ enables the students to replay their
procedure to observe their strengths and weaknesses
• Year 1 students who were only taught using the hapTEL virtual
system and had never treated a real or plastic tooth, performed
as well as the traditionally taught students when preparing a
plastic tooth cavity at the end of the term
20

21. JONATHAN P. SAN DIEGO
21

22. Research into developing virtual
learning systems with haptics
• Physical Layout (Ergonomics, collocation, workspace)
• Physical interface (inclusion of rubber cheeks, synthetic
tissues)
• Touch (Collision detection, DoF, workspace, etc.)
• Vision (3D or 2D, tissue models, colour changes,
magnification, graphic scene changes)
• Audio (mono/stereo/3D, variants of feedback)
• Others (data logs and visualisation, motion
representation, smell)
22

23. Requirements analysis: meeting
users’ needs
• Physical setup of the device
 Ergonomics
 Finger-rest
 Foot control
 Oral workspace
• Oral cavity model
 First lower molar with the adjacent and opposing teeth
 Other tissues (but not haptic at present)
• Multi-sensory feedback (colour, sound, vibration etc.)
• Teaching aids (orientation, magnification, playback, 3D measurement)
23

24. Phases of developing the 3D models
3D VR HapticTooth
24

25. Teeth and mouth model
25

26. hapTEL Workstation
(Curriculum Version)
3D Display
Monitor
Shutter glasses
Camera
Audio speakers
Haptic
handpiece
Pod
Haptic Device
Foot Controls
26

27. Examples of assessment techniques
27

28. Haptics in Distance Learning
AHVITED - Audio Haptics
for Visually Impaired
Training and Education at
a Distance (AHVITED)
(Europe)
Learning Biomolecular
Docking (Singapore)
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29. 29

30. Haptics with other future technologies
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31. Haptic radar (Japan)
Whiskers!
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32. Hug over distance
Air compressor
32

33. 33

34. MARGARET COX
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35. hapTEL for
Dentistry
• Simulating
the dental
chair
hapTEL related
to art
• Links between drawing
and clinical surgery
skills
hapTEL applied • Developing
the system
to other healthfor
care subjects
injections
35

36. hapTEL virtual learning unit at Kings College Dental
Institute
Eyesi virtual learning unit at Moorfields Eye Hospital
36

37. Extending the research into
drawing and art
• Year 1 cohort n=130, investigated relationship
between computer drilling skills logs and drawing
journal
• Initial drawing task was drawing a ceramic tooth
which the student could not see but only touch
• 2 week period to visually record images of the
ceramic tooth in their journal
37

38. Postgraduate Trial study: MA Drawing
students exploring and recording ceramic
object
38

39. Kings College Dental students exploring and
recording ceramic object
39

40. Dental student journal drawings
using conventional drawing
materials
40

41. Recording using non
conventional drawing
materials
41

42. Data from HapTEL
unit(2012)
User Name: H115
D12
16.10.12
Cavity=4
Material Logs
Enamel: Remaining 98.61%
Dentine: Remaining 99.01%
Carie: Removed 74.14%
Pulp exposed: No
Pulp: Removed 0%
Timing Logs
Total Duration: 143.26
seconds
Time at first contact: 24.01
seconds
Time spent Drilling: 80.24
seconds
42

43. Example of one students log-file and
drawing achievement
43

44. BDS 1 Drawing Skills (2012)
Graded levels of drawing performance
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
120600
1105044 1205263 1200434 1203403 1204844 1203729 1108205 1206342 904767
1102774
use of line
16
13
9
8
10
7
6
11
8
6
5
use of tone
16
13
10
6
15
7
5
6
5
5
2
drawing response
18
15
8
11
6
10
9
5
10
5
6
3D recording
18
15
10
7
10
5
5
9
6
5
4
drawing materials
10
5
11
14
2
11
15
5
6
7
3
44

45. Results of drawing project
• The preliminary analysis from the journals with
comparison to the computer log files indicate a
correlation between certain drawing styles and the
virtual clinical performance in hapTEL
45

46. Implications for Teaching
• The results of the study are a practical example of
a pedagogical strategy that could incorporate TEL
methods into under/postgraduate programmes in
Dentistry, Surgery and other related fields
• Drawing skills can be an indication of fine motor
skills equally needed for intricate processes in
technical and scientific subjects
46

47. Extending the hapTEL system in health
– care teaching
King’s College Teaching Fund
Sept 2012 – July 2014
hapTEL in
dentistry
hapTEL in
nursing
hapTEL in
medicine
47

48. Evolution of hapTEL touch technologies
in higher education
Dental cavity
preparation
Dental
injections
Medical
injections
Nursing
training
Doctor
training
Relating to
drawing
48

49. Technology Strategy Board project – injections –
July 2013 – June 2014
49

50. Conclusions: Implications for
TEL in Higher Education
In order for haptic TEL or other TEL resources to be
absorbed into the curriculum and make a positive
contribution to students’ learning:
1. University teachers need to be involved in the
innovation from the beginning.
2. TEL needs to complement the traditional teaching
practices
3. TEL needs to be seen to enhance the evolving
curriculum.
4. Extensive ongoing support for teachers is needed to
maximise its potential.
50

51. Educational
Evaluation
Framework
Factors affecting
learning experiences
(Entwistle, 1987)
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51

52. THANK YOU for your interest
Contact us:
hapTEL@kcl.ac.uk
http://www.haptel.kcl.ac.uk
Follow us on Twitter @hapTEL
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