Liverpool School of Dentistry has swapped traditional didactic learning for a revolutionary and interactive problem-based approach, combining simulated practical study and web-based theoretical learning in the same classroom.

Liverpool has equipped its practical labs with individual dental simulators or 'phantom heads'. It has also embedded library and web access into the simulator stations so that students can improve their dentistry skills while also acquiring the right knowledge.

Liverpool has also chosen to install small, safe and noiseless Thinspace thin clients within each simulator, providing high performance and reliable access to the University's learning resources as well as those on the web. The thin clients' small size allows them to be securely housed within the simulator units, fully isolated from water used in practical sessions.

Sixty-six thin clients are used with-in the simulator stations at Liverpool. Each provides around 32 hours of access per week for 46 weeks each year, collectively supporting nearly 100,000 hours of learning a year with a near perfect performance record.

'We wanted a learning environment that had the closest physical resemblance and operational similarity to a dentist's chair but also linked to our library and the web,' said Callum Youngson, Head of School. 'No desks, benches or computers in sight, just one station that did everything.'