ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the barriers to online learning faced by undergraduate dental students. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on students of Bachelor of Dental Surgery from College of Dentistry, Sharif Medical and Dental College Lahore. A pre-validated questionnaire with a Cronbach alpha 0.94 was used. RESULTS: All the factor scores were found to be statistically significantly different across all four years of Bachelor of Dental Surgery, instructor, and personal problems (p0.01), motivational and time interruption (p=0.003), lack of support services (p=0.002), lack of pre-requisite skills (p=0.006), technical problems (p=0.004) and lack of social interactions (p=0.008). CONCLUSION: The association was strong between year of study and motivational problems and time interruptions, lack of support services, lack of pre-requisite skills. The association between year of study and instructor and personal problems as well as technical problems was medium. The highest mean rank score for the barrier of instructor and personal problems, motivational problems and time interruptions, lack of support services was highest for final year students and the least for second year. The highest mean rank score for technical problems and lack of social interaction was of first year and the least for second year students.