Huế dental students’ use and perception of an online dental learning platform: A pilot study

Abstract

Purpose/Objectives: Online educational materials are growing in use, and dental students worldwide can benefit from higher quality and more accessible online supplemental resources. This study was created to evaluate the learning resources non-English speaking dental students desire and to pilot My Dental Key (MDK), an English, evidence-based, online dental educational platform.Methods: Third to sixth year dental students at the Huế University of Medicine and Pharmacy were asked to pilot MDK over a 5-week period and were invited to answer three surveys throughout the study. A preliminary survey was given to gauge the participants' (n = 209) preferences regarding the use of English-based dental educational resources. Participants (n = 58) completed a presurvey prior to accessing MDK. After the 5-week period, participants (n = 38) were given a postsurvey to evaluate the platform's effectiveness as a supplemental educational resource. Results: Overall, we found that: (1) students desire credible online supplemental resources in addition to current resources provided by their school, (2) the multimodal content that MDK provides is a strength that bridges language barriers (3) participants perceived that the content on MDK would help them in class and when treating patients. Conclusions: Improving the quality of online supplemental dental resources will have the capability to progress the current educational landscape, and further resources should be created to best serve the global dental community.

Students’ perceptions of virtual interactive clinical case-based learning: A comparative study with three different cohorts

“… 24 , 25 When paired with easily accessible and interactive online supplemental materials during remote sessions, students perhaps perceive increased effectiveness, leading to a preference for the virtual tutorial sessions. 26 …”

“…As seen in the student feedback in Table 3 b, one prominent challenge of online learning includes the difficulty of maintaining engagement and retaining learning materials. 23 , 26 However, the distinctive nature of ICCBT addresses these challenges by encouraging the student to participate in and exploring the multi-faceted solutions to particular cases through group discussion. 27 Our previous study found that students perceived that virtual/distance learning was better suited for didactic content, while it was considered less optimal for clinical subjects.…”