Effectiveness of Rapid Transition to Online Teaching during COVID 19: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey of Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions in a West Indian Dental School

Abstract

Objectives: The sudden advent of the COVID pandemic resulted in limited face to face interactions and the dental school in the University of the West Indies was challenged to complete the final year with a rapid transition to online teaching. This study examined students' and teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of emergency remote online teaching and challenges experienced. Materials and Methods: Two independent online cross-sectional surveys were administered on the perception of the online learning environment and challenges experienced and effectiveness of strategies used. Overall thirty three dental students and eleven clinical academic teachers participated. Statistical analysis: Reliability of the questionnaire was determined. Chi-squared (χ 2 ) tests were applied for determining the perceptions of students and teachers towards online teaching. Frequencies and percentages were also computed. Results: The majority of students (60.6% -69.7%) perceived that online teaching strategies enhanced their clinical reasoning and critical thinking skills in clinical practice and found it easy to adapt. However, the majority (87.9%) perceived it to be somewhat or not effective at all in acquiring clinical skills. The main challenge experienced was connectivity to the internet (87.9%). The majority of teachers (72.7% -92.9%) perceived that they effectively communicated with the students and engaged students in clinical reasoning and critical thinking, but 50% did not think they prepared

Gender Differences in Perceptions and Attitudes of Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in University Students

“…Both, male and female students acknowledged their teachers' support, availability and timely feedback, which was in line with other studies that also showed an appreciation of the support provided by teachers during distance learning (Rafeek et al, 2021;Li et al, 2021;Aristovnik et al, 2020). As timely feedback has been emphasized as important contributor for the advancement of one's work this is a critical component to successful teaching and learning (Ozfidan et al, 2021).…”

“…A lack of social contacts can also very easily lead to a higher perception of loneliness or social isolation and psychological stress (Zhou et al, 2020). According to international studies, women are more affected by this problem than men and, therefore, may require additional attention (Tavolacci et al, 2013;Holt-Lunstad, 2017;Liu et al, 2019;Luo et al, 2020;Atienza-Carbonell & Balanzá-Martínez, 2020) In contrast to previous studies (Rafeek et al, 2021;Khraishi, 2021;Ntim et al, 2021) almost two-thirds of students in the present study considered digital education not as essential or helpful for their studies and knowledge transfer at the university level. Both, male and female students emphasized that certain course contents could not be sufficiently transferred into a digital format.…”

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Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on the Psychology of Saudi Technical College Students: Lessons and Tips

“…Many studies related to the psychological state of adolescent students have been cited in the literature (Zhai & Du, 2020;Oza et al, 2022;Pellino et al, 2021;Rafeek et al, 2021). These studies have highlighted many causes and factors that affected the psychological state of students and their repercussions on their academic results.…”