The ITI launches ITI Online Academy University Campus

The International Team for Implantology (ITI) announced the launch of its University Campus initiative. This unique program is offered free of charge to universities and dental schools, providing them with a complete e-learning environment to facilitate implant dentistry education.

An integral part of the ITI Online Academy – the ITI’s peer-reviewed, evidence-based e-learning platform – University Campuses enable universities to set up, customize and manage their implant dentistry learning environment autonomously. Each University Campus comprises the necessary technical infrastructure as well as unlimited access to all ITI Online Academy content. Universities can also add their own learning materials to their Campus and organize all the content as a structured curriculum. This gives universities a unique opportunity to easily integrate implant dentistry into their undergraduate curriculum.

 

Within each Campus, an unlimited number of classrooms can be created, and students as well as learning content can be assigned to each individual classroom. Discussion forums on both the classroom and the Campus level round off the package. Students have ongoing access to all the materials in their classrooms throughout their course of study.

 

“The ITI recently took a strategic decision to address the needs of the emerging generation of dental professionals”, said David Cochran, ITI President. “By providing a multi-facetted, state-of-the-art e-learning platform free of charge to providers of undergraduate education, the University Campus initiative effectively demonstrates the ITI’s commitment to the future of implant dentistry.”

 

The first ITI Online Academy University Campus was launched in June 2016 at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSCSA) at San Antonio, TX, USA.

 

“The ITI Online Academy is the perfect platform for our virtual classroom,” said Dr. Stefanie Seitz, Assistant Clinical Professor at the UTHSCSA Dental School. “The students really enjoy the way content is presented and appreciate the freedom to manage their learning. And if interested in additional information on a particular topic, they can explore in a self-directed manner.” Assistant Professor Dr. Richard Zimmermann added: “The ITI Online Academy is a tremendous resource that allows students access to lectures from world-renowned experts.”

 

Three further Campuses will be established later this year at the University of Melbourne, Australia, the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, UK and the Academisch Centrum Tandheelkunde Amsterdam (ACTA), Netherlands. As of 2017, the program will be rolled out at every university already affiliated with the ITI through an ITI Scholarship Center or an ITI Center of Excellence. Later on, every university or dental school that fulfills criteria defined by the ITI can apply for a University Campus.