ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the effectiveness of applet-assisted teaching in the pedagogy of stomatology and gain suggestions for the improvement of the applet.Methods:Using digital technology, we built a professional atlas applet for Oral Histopathology that covered a wide range of contents including illustrations, histological slides, schematic diagrams, and hand-drawn pictures of knowledge points. Based on the WeChat platform, the applet had the functions of bilingual (Chinese/English) annotation and real-time interactive communication between teachers and students. Thirty dental students were given quizzes before and after using the atlas applet. The scores were analyzed using the t-test with SPSS 22.0 software. At the same time, 45 students filled a questionnaire after using the applet for one month, which involved comments on the use of the digital atlas, the degree of satisfaction and suggestions for the applet during learning, and suggestions for its co-use by teachers and students in the future. Results:After using the atlas applet to assist with learning, the test scores of the students were improved significantly in all domains. There were significant differences between the test and control groups in the score of completion questions [(17.00±2.61) vs. (15.03±1.85), P<0.05], the score of identification of images [(27.93±5.08) vs. (25.13±3.31), P<0.05], and the total score [(78.77±8.59) vs. (72.90±6.08), P<0.05]. The questionnaire feedback showed that the students were highly satisfied with the atlas applet-assisted learning, the function of teacher-student interaction, and the overall performance of the applet. Conclusion:An atlas is one of the crucial teaching tools of Oral Histopathology for its intuitionistic and realistic presentation of tissue structures, which plays an important role in the theoretical learning process for dental students. The combination of the atlas and electronic media based on portable mobile devices is beneficial for students' understanding of knowledge.