Tutorial Education Program at a dental school in Southern Brazil: A transforming experience.

Abstract

The Tutorial Education Program (PET), regulated in 2005 by Law no. 11.180/2004, in addition to transforming higher education in Brazil, has been an essential component for the development of academic students, expanding the education perspective. This article aims to report the actions developed regarding these three pillars and the experience of undergraduate dentistry students, who are members of the Tutorial Education Program at the Federal University of Santa Maria. Through teaching, research, and extension activities, which are the structuring pillars of Brazilian universities, PET enables the improvement of education and pedagogical projects in higher education courses. With regard to teaching and the search for knowledge construction, the group has been conducting six projects focused on dental students, in the form of lectures and workshops, as well as innovated the teaching-learning process through the preparation of video classes and the monitoring of freshmen students. Regarding the production of new knowledge through research, three projects focused on dental trauma, xerostomia, and the impact of COVID-19 on the teaching of dental students. As an exchange between community and university, in the extension pillar, the group participates in three projects aimed at blood donation, divulgation of the university, and the elderly public. During the 2020 pandemic, the group made adaptations and created new actions. Therefore, the activities planned and performed by the Tutorial Education Program have developed its members' skills and contributed to improvements in the quality of Brazilian higher education.