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. 2021 Oct;85(10):1574-1587.
doi: 10.1002/jdd.12653. Epub 2021 May 27.

Dental education during the pandemic: Cross-sectional evaluation of four different teaching concepts

Janosch Goob  1 , Kurt Erdelt  1 , Jan-Frederik Güth  2 , Anja Liebermann  1
Affiliations

Dental education during the pandemic: Cross-sectional evaluation of four different teaching concepts

Janosch Goob et al. J Dent Educ. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the advantages of student satisfaction with and functionality of three digital teaching concepts during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic compared to a conventional lecture setup.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was a survey-based e-learning research among dental students in the clinical study phase of a department of prosthetic dentistry at a German university hospital. A total of 44 questions were answered in four main sections: 1. general technical components; 2. acceptance; 3. evaluation and functionality; and 4. overall evaluation and grades of the various digital concepts. The use of Zoom conference, livestream, and prerecorded PowerPoint was compared to the conventional lecture setup (control group/CG). Data were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, followed by an exploratory data analysis and Cronbach's alpha test (α = 0.05).

Results: Students were very satisfied with the provision, quality, and benefit of the digital concepts. The asynchronous concept was significantly more satisfying than the synchronous concepts in many aspects but was less successful in interactions. In the overall evaluation and grading, the asynchronous concept was rated significantly better than the other synchronous concepts (p ≤ 0.007), followed by Zoom conference, conventional lecture (CG), and livestream, while Zoom conference and the conventional lecture showed no significant difference (p = 0.784).

Conclusions: Students significantly preferred the asynchronous concept to the synchronous concepts. The results suggested that asynchronous concepts are an effective and functional form of distance education during a pandemic. In general, digital teaching concepts are currently widely accepted for maintaining university education.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; Zoom conference; asynchronous; conventional lecture; livestream; pandemic; prerecorded PowerPoint; synchronous.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Overview of the teaching concepts evaluated
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Boxplot of transmission quality of media and documents of all conventional/digital teaching concepts (%)
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Boxplot of technical functionality of all conventional/digital teaching concepts (%)
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Boxplot of interaction and discussion between lecturer and student (%)
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Boxplot of students’ vision of future teaching of dentistry without pandemic restrictions (%)
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