Membership: (Appointed June 15, 2013) Linda Lan (Alberta) – Chair, Toufic Boulos (Montréal), Evgeniya Kazachenko (Alberta), Paul Harris (CDSPI) – consultant, Dean Smith (CDA) – consultant.

Activities

Members of the Website Development Team (WDT) had a conference call to determine timeline, responsibilities and website content. The WDT worked on developing content for the major headings of “About us,” “Supporters” and profiles of school specialties. Brainstorming for the survey regarding member needs has also started.

Results

Timeline was delayed due to revisions and busy schedules, but final edits to the content in the headings have been made and portions of the website are now ready for launch.

In early June, the website was populated with initial English content in the following areas:

Governance                      

  • General
  • Mission / Vision / Objects
  • General Bylaws
  • Member Associations – with links where available
  • Executive                           
  • Composition
  • FCDSA Executive 2013-2014 – photos + short bios
  • Council                           
  • Composition
  • Council members as at May 22, 2014

 Becoming Involved        

  • Member Association Representation
  • FCDSA Committees and Working Groups
  • Current committees and working groups – Terms of Reference and Reports
  • Past working groups – Terms of Reference and Reports

Resources                          

  • Dental School Information
  • DDS/DMD programs accredited by Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada (CDAC)
  • Links and contact information of all programs
  • Dental Specialties
  • Information for students considering an advanced education program in one of the dental specialties
  • Official definition of each specialty and links to the specialty association
  •  Hospital Internship and Dental Residency Programs
  • Information for students considering advanced training by way of a hospital internship and dental residency program
  • Links to assist students in locating hospital internship and dental residency programs available throughout North America

Contact Us                         

  • The Secretariat – description + contact details

 Supporters                        

  • Canadian Dental Association – logo + short description + link + support history
  • CDSPI – logo + short description + link + support history

French content will be added as soon as the translations are finalized. 

Summary and Reflection

Maintaining a consistent work flow throughout the year proved difficult after the initial meeting and busy school schedules proved to be a challenge.  However, goals were set and email was the main method of communication to develop the content.

Next Steps

  1. Work with the External Communications Committee to invite feedback on content and functionality, possibly using a survey.
  2. Using feedback received, work with the External Communications Committee to identify areas of content needed.
  3. Continue to develop content as needed.
  4. To help maintain momentum throughout the year, recommend that future WDT members schedule more regular meetings and set specific, attainable goals.

Proposed Resolution

BE IT RESOLVED that one of the members of the Executive be appointed as “webmaster” for the FCDSA website.