Should Undergraduate Lectures be Compulsory? The Views of Dental and Medical Students from a UK University

Dental Students and Faculty Perceptions of Teaching Methods: Traditional Classes, Online Virtual Classes, and Recorded Lectures

Background:

Rapid advancement in technology has provided alternatives to traditional classroom teaching. Such instructional methods have gained increasing importance during the COVID-19 pandemic when physical classroom attendance was not possible. The study evaluated faculty’s and students’ perceptions concerning the online virtual classes and recorded lectures as compared to traditional classes delivered at the College of Dentistry, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

Materials and Methods:

Surveys were developed and distributed to 34 faculty members and 186 students. Perceptions about virtual classes, recorded lectures, physical attendance, the effectiveness of different teaching methods, and overall experience were evaluated. Descriptive statistics were presented using frequencies and percentages. The Chi-square test compared the students’ and the faculty members’ responses. The level of significance was set at α =0.05.

Results:

Thirty-one faculty members and 149 dental students participated, and the overall response rates were 91.2% and 80.1%, respectively. While there was a general agreement on the usefulness of making recorded lectures available, a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) was found between students’ and faculty members’ views on making classroom-lecture attendance optional (67.1% of students and 12.9% of the faculty agreed/strongly agreed). Statistically significant differences (p<0.001) were found between the students and faculty members concerning the effectiveness of recorded lectures and attending online virtual classes as an alternative to classroom attendance.

Conclusion:

Overall, students were more accepting of technology than faculty members as a substitute for traditional classroom teaching. For a more efficient and satisfactory learning experience, both teaching methods should be considered in a blended-learning module.

Hands-on live demonstration vs. video-supported demonstration of an aesthetic composite restoration in undergraduate dental teaching

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES

Live hands-on demonstration of dental procedures is a central format in undergraduate dental teaching. It captures the immediacy of the clinical situation and allows for direct communication between instructor and students, but it also requires an experienced instructor who is able to handle both the performed treatment and its visualization alongside the actual teaching. The aim of the present work is to compare the hands-on demonstration of a class IV composite restoration to a teaching format where the instructor guided the students through a prerecorded procedural video of the same treatment.

METHODS

The effect of both interventions on the students' self-perceived learning outcomes was analyzed by questionnaires (response rate 100%) in a randomized controlled double-blind (participants, outcome assessor) parallel group design (September 10 to October 3, 2019). In-class discussions were explored qualitatively by thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Both teaching formats increased the students' self-reported motivation, self-efficacy, and patient-centeredness in a similar way, with no significant differences between interventions. During in-class discussions, both the instructor and the students were more active in the video group. In contrast to the hands-on group, discussions in the video group also involved patient-related topics, such as aesthetics and general health. The video-supported teaching format considerably reduced the amount of time spent on optimizing the visualization of the performed treatment.

CONCLUSION

Video-supported instructor-guided demonstrations may represent a promising teaching format as an alternative to live hands-on demonstrations of dental procedures in undergraduate dental education.

The Present and Future Applications of Technology in Adapting Medical Education Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has not only been catastrophic toward patient health but has also proven to be incredibly disruptive to several industries and sectors, including medical education. However, many medical schools have employed various technological solutions in order to minimize the disruption to medical education during this unpredictable time. This viewpoint reviews the various current and potential applications of technology in order to adapt medical education amidst a global pandemic.