Dental Education Challenges during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Italy: Undergraduate Student Feedback, Future Perspectives, and the Needs of Teaching Strategies for Professional Development

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic literally stopped most human movement and activities as it initially spread, which included dental practices and dental education. This defined the need for significative changes in teaching and learning with the use of "e-learning" methods, also for traineeships. This study was designed to determine the undergraduate student perception of these new methods as part of their education. This involved 353 students attending the Dental School of the G. D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, from the first to the sixth years. A questionnaire in Italian and was set-up using "Google Forms" and sent by email to the students. The questionnaire was divided into three parts: the first part included questions for general information, including age, sex and year of course; the second part had multiple choice questions related to their evaluation of the e-learning teaching, using a scale of opinion in the replies to each question (e.g., "scarce", "fair", "satisfying", "very good" and "excellent"); and the third part included two open questions to indicate the strengths and limitations of these new teaching and learning approaches. The categorical variables in the first and second parts of the questionnaire were evaluated using Chi squared tests, setting significance at p < 0.05, while the comments were evaluated qualitatively. The student feedback showed significant appreciation (p < 0.05) of the new methods and the efforts that the lecturers put in to provide lectures of as high a quality as possible. However, a lack of practical training was significantly perceived as an important problem in the structure of their new curriculum (p < 0.05). COVID-19 has been an epic tragedy that has hit the human population not only in terms of health and healthcare, but also quality of life. This includes the quality of dental education within universities. However, the pandemic can be seen to also represent motivation to invest in the necessary technological innovation to deliver the best possible education to our future dentists.

Keywords: COVID-19; dentistry; education; pandemic; public health.

Figure 1

Years of the course of the responding students (n = 301).

Figure 2

Questionnaire results for the first year student feedback to the e-learning and e-teaching approach. The numbers in the bars indicate the percentages of the answers received (n = 301). * p < 0.05 (Pearson’s chi-squared tests).

Figure 3

Questionnaire results for the second year student feedback to the e-learning and e-teaching approach. The numbers in the bars indicate the percentages of the answers received (n = 301), * p < 0.05 (Pearson’s chi-squared tests). Although they defined the lecturers’ efforts mostly “satisfying”, the difference did not reach statistical significance.

Figure 4

Questionnaire results for the third year student feedback to the e-learning and e-teaching approach. The numbers in the bars indicate the percentages of the answers received (n = 301). * p < 0.05 (Pearson’s chi-squared tests).

Figure 5

Questionnaire results for the fourth year student feedback to the e-learning and e-teaching approach. The numbers in the bars indicate the percentages of the answers received (n = 301). * p < 0.05 (Pearson’s chi-squared tests). Although the correspondence to expectations and lecturers” efforts were mostly “satisfying”, the difference did not reach statistical significance.

Figure 6

Questionnaire results for the fifth-year student feedback to the e-learning and e-teaching approach. The numbers in the bars indicate the percentages of the answers received (n = 301). * p < 0.05 (Pearson’s chi-squared tests). Although the correspondence to expectations and the lecturers” efforts were mostly defined as “satisfying”, the differences did not reach statistical significance.

Figure 7

Questionnaire results for the sixth year student feedback to the e-learning and e-teaching approach. The numbers in the bars indicate the percentages of the answers received (n = 301). * p < 0.05 (Pearson’s chi-squared tests). Although the level of interest and correspondence to expectations were mostly defined as “fair”, the difference did not reach statistical significance.

Figure 8

Questionnaire results for the overall combined student feedback to the e-learning and e-teaching approach, from the first to the sixth year of the course, inclusive. The numbers in the bars indicate the percentages of the answers received (n = 301). * p < 0.05 (Kruskal–Wallis tests).