ABSTRACT
Objectives: To assess the psychological factors in undergraduate dental students towards e-learning in clinical skills education compared to traditional teaching methods and their relationship with performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method(s): In this study, survey conductedamong 494undergraduate dentalstudents of all four sessions from different dental universities within the Pakistan. Total 494 undergraduate dental students responded to a 28-question online survey to identify e- learning is more convenient and practicalthan traditional learning and to measure it 5- pointLikertScaleused. To measure level of psychological impact, Hamilton Anxiety Scale used due to e-learning among undergraduate dental students. Result(s): The majority of undergraduate dental student's responded e-learning is not convenient and practical than traditional learning system. The majority of undergraduate dentalstudents reportedveryseverelevelof psychologicalimpactdueto e-learning and closing of institutions during COVID-19 pandemic. Results are statistically significant and analyzed on IBM SPSS version 23. There are 82% students responded having problem with e-learning system and among them 58 % have very severe anxiety and 24% have severe anxiety. So the results shows increased percentage of anxiety due e-learning. Conclusion(s): Dental students expressed a higher level of comfort and effective learning in a recognizable, conventional classroom circumstance. Teaching with traditional system improvesstudent'scriticalthinkingskillsandformulatesopinionsorargumentsbyengaging in live discussions. This study reveals that students face challenges in using the e-learning resources because of incompetency in the IT skills, lack of motivation and access to proper internet. The most important issue identified by this study is maintaining an effective interaction with dental students in e-learning system of teaching to fill the gap between the teacher and students. There should be further flexibility workload and learning time to students to reduce the level of anxiety among the dental students.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objectives: To assess the psychological factors in undergraduate dental students towards elearning in clinical skills education compared to traditional teaching methods and their relationship with performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In this study, survey conducted among 494undergraduate dental students of all four sessions from different dental universities within the Pakistan. Total 494 undergraduate dental students responded to a 28-question online survey to identify e- learning is more convenient and practical than traditional learning and to measure it 5- point Likert Scale used. To measure level of psychological impact, Hamilton Anxiety Scale used due to e-learning among undergraduate dental students. Results: The majority of undergraduate dental student's responded e-learning is not convenient and practical than traditional learning system. The majority of undergraduate dental students reported very severe level of psychological impact due to e-learning and closing of institutions during COVID-19 pandemic. Results are statistically significant and analyzed on IBM SPSS version 23. There are 82% students responded having problem with e-learning system and among them 58 % have very severe anxiety and 24% have severe anxiety. So the results shows increased percentage of anxiety due e-learning. Conclusion: Dental students expressed a higher level of comfort and effective learning in a recognizable, conventional classroom circumstance. Teaching with traditional system improves student's critical thinking skills and formulates opinions or arguments by engaging in live discussions. This study reveals that students face challenges in using the e-learning resources because of incompetency in the IT skills, lack of motivation and access to proper internet. The most important issue identified by this study is maintaining an effective interaction with dental students in e-learning system of teaching to fill the gap between the teacher and students. There should be further flexibility workload and learning time to students to reduce the level of anxiety among the dental students.