Mike Petryk School of Dentistry recognized for innovative curriculum redesign
2 June 2025
Students in the doctor of dental surgery program.
A team from the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry has been awarded the 2024 David Cook Award for its innovative approach to curriculum design for the doctor of dental surgery program.
The renewed learning model is already showing measurable results.
The award, presented annually by the 黑料不打烊’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, recognizes excellence in the development or renewal of educational programs. The team received the honour for a complete redesign of the DDS program curriculum, completed in 2018 and implemented with the incoming class in 2019.
Steve Patterson led the curriculum renewal project with the help of the curriculum renewal team including Anthea Senior, Sharon Compton, Hollis Lai, Bernie Linke, Daniel Graf, Gisele Gaudet-Amigo, Colleen Starchuk, Cheryl Deslaurier and Jacqueline Green.
“We wanted to ensure that the curriculum was structured to help students understand the relevance of what they were learning and to put all the pieces together to provide quality patient care,” says Senior, acting chair of the school.
“Curriculum redesign is never finished,” says Patterson. “We view curriculum renewal as a continuous process of improvement. What our team did was build a great foundation.”
The renewed curriculum integrates foundational science with clinical experience from the outset. Rather than following a discipline-based structure, students revisit and build on key concepts in a spiral learning model. Three vertical learning streams carry through all four years, guiding students through milestones that support both academic and clinical development.
Junior and senior students work with live patients together under faculty supervision in the school’s Oral Health Clinic. This allows students across all four years of the program to build their patient-care skills and confidence together in a supportive environment. By graduation, students are competent not just in clinical procedures, but in reflective practice and professional judgment.
Custom digital tools developed alongside the curriculum help support this vision, including:
- Clinic QI Dashboard, a tool for tracking chair use, cancellations and patient satisfaction
- Student Clinical Experience Dashboard, which helps ensure balanced, meaningful clinical experiences
- Online Report Card and Portfolio, which gives students a comprehensive view of their clinical progress
- Calendar.med, a scheduling and curriculum-mapping tool integrated with evaluation
Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive.
Students describe the curriculum as clear, practical and engaging. Results back that up: Graduates from the first two cohorts under the new model ranked at the top nationally on the National Dental Examining Board of Canada licensing exams.
“This curriculum challenges students to grow into professionals with excellent technical and patient-care skills,” says Senior. “We are continually reviewing and improving our curriculum and are very proud of our students' accomplishments.”