(Photograph) - Chris Stephens, professor of child dental health, and his team at the University of Bristol offer a textbook example of how IT can be successfully introduced. Computer Assisted Learning was introduced because "we had to do it to survive", Professor Stephens explains. After funding reviews, there are 40 per cent fewer orthodontics lecturers than in the early 1980s.
Three CAL packages support tutorial provision in practical orthodontics allowing the department to deliver an additional postgraduate course. Total cost is less than Pounds 55,000 and the department has generated an additional Pounds 200,000 income. One of the packages is marketed worldwide by a publisher. Professor Stephens says the secret is to contain costs and employ a professional software developer.