Turning ideas into action

EDITORIAL

Turning ideas into actionDavid L. Turpin, Editor-in-Chief

Lattie F. Coor, a past president of Arizona StateUniversity, is currently CEO of the Center forthe Future of Arizona (www.ArizonaFuture.

org)—an organization he likes to call a “do tank.” It isdedicated to an action agenda to improve the quality oflife for all Arizonans now and for years to come. DrCoor met with the AAO Board of Trustees on June 23,2006, to discuss the social and economic impacts ofchange as it affects our educational institutions, a topicin which he has great personal experience.

Dr Coor quoted Seth Godin1 when describing theidea-driven economy: “The first 100 years of ourcountry’s history were about who could build thebiggest, most efficient farms. The second 100 yearswere about the race to build efficient factories. Wel-come to the third century: this one’s about ideas.”

This relates to one of the most critical areas ofconcern for your Board of Trustees—the education oftomorrow’s orthodontists. This is also an area in whichLattie Coor has had an opportunity to learn on the jobas he rose to prominence in higher education during aperiod of rapid change in Arizona.

Taking us directly into the classroom, Dr Coorstarted his presentation by describing a graduate-levelclass he currently teaches at Arizona State. It involvesan entirely different model for learning and makes useof the teaching software, Blackboard Academic Suite(Blackboard, Washington, DC). This software’s pow-erful capabilities enable institutions to improve studentoutcomes and enhance teaching and learning. It hasbecome a mission-critical application at educationalinstitutions around the world. The students are firstasked to establish their own sites using the software andto begin to interact with others in the same class. Beforetheir first face-to-face meeting with the teacher and theother students, they will have already completed sev-eral assigned searches and interacted intensively withall other students and the instructor with the Blackboardsoftware. They will know why they are there and whatthey are expected to learn.

“How,” you might ask, “does this have anything to

Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 2006;130:2710889-5406/$32.00Copyright © 2006 by the American Association of Orthodontists.

do with orthodontic education?” It might not have adirect application, but the concept of change probablydoes. The AAO House of Delegates recently voted totake $2 million from reserves to increase funding forour orthodontic departments during the next schoolyear. Each school must apply for and report specificallyhow this money is spent. I am not so naive as to believethat this money will revolutionize the teaching oforthodontics, but I do believe that some bright people inour universities will find new ways to make theirteaching methods more effective. These people andtheir departments should be rewarded over time. Thistype of response could, in turn, lead to a host of otherchanges by schools that would solve the way educatorsare funded. According to Lattie Coor, medical schoolslearned some time ago that a wide variety of resourcesmust be tapped to provide accumulated funding levelsfor maintaining the best physicians in teaching andresearch activities. When teaching salaries droppedbelow 75% of what physicians could earn in privatepractice, it became impossible to maintain the desiredlevels of good educators.

The very same financial forces are in full operationin our specialty; teaching salaries are less than 50% ofthose in private practice. This model is not sustainablein any field of learning and must eventually be ad-dressed directly. The AAO subsidies for this schoolyear are only a small part of the equation. Other optionsinclude limited private-practice opportunities for full-time faculty members, more half-time faculty appoint-ments with prorated benefits, increased research grants,greater sharing of clinical income, alumni support, andreductions in AAO dues and meeting registration fees.Without these changes, a long-term solution will re-main elusive.

As soon as we can secure lasting financial supportof about 75% of what can be earned in private practice,we will find the talent needed to teach orthodonticresidents well into the 21st century. This is what Ilearned from Lattie F. Coor, a leader in education whoknows how to turn ideas into action.

REFERENCE

1. Godin S. Available at: www.fastcompany.com/magazine/37/ide-

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