Authentic learning interactions: myth or reality?

This paper examines a project which utilises a virtual dental clinic and a fictitious eight year old patient "Matthew" to situate students within an authentic learning environment. A case is presented which requires the student to examine clinical information about Matthew in the form of patient history, clinical slides, radiographs and expert information from teachers, psychologists and an endocrinologist. The dental student creates a legitimate treatment plan for Matthew by analysing information typically obtained in a real patient encounter. A situatedlearning design was adopted as it provided a means of engaging the dental student with a legitimate case of a paediatric patient with diabetes. The student is required to make a treatment plan based on the information gleaned from the resources and then compare their reasoning with that of an expert paediatric dentist. An initial evaluation of the virtual dental clinic was undertaken in order to determine the perceptions of practicing dentists in relation to the case.