ADEA CCI History

In 2005, ADEA formed the ADEA Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (ADEA CCI) to oversee and guide the Association’s educational change efforts. Over the past decade, repeated calls have been made for curricular reform and innovation in dental education.

As originally conceived, the purpose of ADEA CCI was to build consensus among all stakeholders in dental education, research and practice by providing leadership to a systemic, collaborative and continuous process of innovative change in the education of general dentists, so that they enter the profession competent to meet the oral health needs of the public throughout the 21st century and to function as important members of an efficient and effective health care team. The eight core principles of ADEA CCI were:

Critical Thinking
Lifelong and Self-Directed Learning
Humanistic Environment
Scientific Discovery and the Integration of Knowledge
Evidence-Based Oral Health Care
Assessment
Faculty Development
The Health Care Team

A major component of ADEA CCI's work between 2005 and 2016 was the development of a series of commissioned papers published in the Journal of Dental Education. All 22 papers in the series appear in Beyond the Crossroads , which puts forward an effective strategy for academic dental institutions to consider in making own changes. The research contained in this book supported the work of a 2007 joint ADEA/Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) task force formed to revise predoctoral accreditation standards. It also informed the development of Competencies for the New General Dentist , which was approved by the ADEA House of Delegates in 2008. In addition, this work was influential in developing new strategies for faculty development in the key areas of teaching, learning and assessment.

Other resources developed by the original iteration of ADEA CCI include the Critical Thinking Skills Toolbox and the Dental Student Assessment Toolbox .

ADEA CCI 2.0 was launched in September 2016. Learn More.