Incivility in online learning environment: Perception of dental students and faculty

Abstract

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the extent of incivility and perception of dental students and faculty regarding uncivil behaviors in the online learning environment. Methods: Incivility in online environment (IOLE) survey was used to collect data from dental students (n = 232) and faculty (n = 35) at Margalla Institute of Health Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan from September to December 2021. A 4-point Likert scale was used for respondents to indicate their perceptions regarding incivility in IOLE, and a list of students' and faculty's uncivil behaviors. Descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used for data analysis. The level of significance was kept at ≤0.05. Results:The majority of the students reported online incivility as either "a moderate or serious problem" (n = 103, 72.0%), and the majority of faculty (n = 12, 56%) reported incivility as "no to a mild problem" (p = 0.018). Both students and faculty agreed that students are more likely to engage in uncivil behavior in OLE as compared to faculty. Various forms of rude/threatening comments and posting ambiguous or vague responses that do not add meaning to the online discussion were considered uncivil student behaviors by both students and faculty (p ≤ 0.05). Assigning grades without providing useful feedback and threatening to fail students for not complying with faculty's demands were perceived as uncivil faculty behaviors (p ≤ 0.05). Female students and students with less self-reported expertise in online learning had greater mean scores for faculty uncivil behaviors (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: Incivility exists in OLE in dentistry with the more likely engagement of students in uncivil behaviors. With the increasing use of online platforms for education in dentistry, there is a need for further research and training courses for both students and faculty to reduce the extent of incivility and create a healthy and conducive learning environment.

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