Raters and examinees training for objective structured clinical examination: comparing the effectiveness of three instructional methodologies.

BACKGROUND: Utilizing the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) ensures objectivity when it comes to the assessment of nursing students' skills and competency. However, one challenge in OSCE integration is rater and examinee training and orientation. AIM: This study employed a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of different instructional methodologies in training and preparing raters and examinees for the OSCE. METHODS: Participants were divided into three group of training methodologies: online, simulation, and traditional lecture (six raters and 18 examinees were assigned to each group). A total of 18 raters and 54 examinees partook. RESULTS: The study found that raters trained through simulation exhibited a slight agreement with their rates, compared to those who were trained online and in traditional lectures. Moreover, examinees who were trained through the simulation methodology performed better compared to those trained via the other methodologies. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings indicate that using simulation by training raters and examinees in the OSCE is the most effective approach.

The Effects of Peer Competition-Induced Anxiety on Massive Open Online Course Learning: The Mediating Role of the Behavioral Inhibition System.

With the increased emphasis on competition in academic settings, anxiety is becoming more common, which inevitably has some impact on students' learning processes and results. This study aimed to explore how competition-induced anxiety influences students' subjective cognitive load (SCL), attention levels, and test scores. We also investigated the mediating role of the behavioral inhibition system/behavioral activation system (BIS/BAS) in those factors. A total of 101 college students were recruited in Study 1 to learn from five micro-lectures from massive open online courses (MOOCs) under competitive and non-competitive conditions. The results showed that participants' state anxiety (SA) scores were higher after the experiment, participants under the competition condition had higher test scores, and the relationship between SA/ trait anxiety (TA) and SCL could be mediated by the BIS. To obtain more objective data on learning processes (attention levels), we conducted Study 2, which collected behavioral and EEG data from 42 college students during the online learning. The results showed that the competition group had higher SA, lower attention levels, and worse test scores, and the relationship between SA/TA and attention levels could be mediated through the BIS. The present study not only expands previous research by finding that BIS functioning plays an important role in the effects of anxiety on cognitive load and attention but also offers implications for using competitive strategies to motivate students according to their aptitudes.

George Howard Darwin and the "public" interpretation of The Tides.

Processes of adapting complex information for broad audiences became a pressing concern by the turn of the twentieth century. Channels of communication ranged from public lectures to printed books designed to serve a social class eager for self-improvement. Through analyzing a course of public lectures given by George Howard Darwin (1845-1912) for the Lowell Institute in Boston and the monograph he based on these, The Tides and Kindred Phenomena of the Solar System (1898), this article connects the important practices of public lecturing and book production-two aspects of knowledge dissemination that tend to be studied as separate entities. Darwin, Plumian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge and son of the famous naturalist, relied on a diverse material culture when lecturing and producing a book. Giving a new account of Darwin's scientific work through exploring his adaption of it for broader audiences, this article connects the diverse material culture Darwin employed in talks to the practice of producing a published book. The content of objects demonstrated and the lantern slides projected during Darwin's lectures evolved to form a book designed to engage broad sectors of society in Europe and the United States. Darwin's lectures were attended at full capacity, while The Tides was soon printed in numerous English editions and translated into German, Italian, Hungarian, and Spanish.

An advanced course sequence in eukaryotic cell and molecular biology: A year-long course where active learning and peer-led groups resulted in higher learning gains and significant course passing scores.

We developed an advanced, year-long course sequence in eukaryotic cell and molecular biology in order to increase conceptual understanding. Three years of historical data from a one semester, traditional-lecture, senior cell and molecular biology course (n = 237) were compared with 3 years of data collected from the year-long course sequence (n = 176). There were significant content gains for the students who enrolled in the course sequence when pre- and post-assessments were compared (p < 0.0001). There was an association between earning a C or better in the course sequence and 70% or higher in the post-assessment instrument (p < 0.05). Final course grades for Bio 135A were calculated from three open ended exams and the percentage of correct answers on the clicker questions. For Bio135B, final grades were calculated from three open ended exams, clicker responses, a seven-page literature review on an environmental carcinogen and its effects on signal transduction pathways, and a formal presentation of one of the research articles they used in the literature review. The students who took the second semester of the course passed at higher rates than the students who enrolled in the traditional-lecture course (p < 0.05). Clicker answers to the research problem sets and the final course grades correlated significantly for both semesters of the course sequence (p < 0.01). We conclude that conceptually-connected learning gains can be obtained when the content is taught in a format that includes short lectures and group work to solve research questions.

Lesser relevance markers in Chinese academic spoken English corpus: a cross-disciplinary study on pragmatic features.

This study explores the usage characteristics and pragmatic functions of lesser relevance markers in academic spoken English lectures presented by Chinese scholars. A qualitative and quantitative approach is employed using the Chinese Academic Spoken English Corpus (CASEC), which encompasses disciplines in science, engineering, humanities, and social sciences. The findings reveal that Chinese scholars use lesser relevance markers less frequently compared to native English speakers. These differences in usage highlight the influence of language background, disciplinary culture, and communication conventions on the realization of informing evaluation, topic handling, and interactivity. Furthermore, within the Chinese scholars' group, humanities and social sciences scholars tend to use lesser relevance markers more frequently than science and engineering scholars. This research enhances our understanding of the multifaceted pragmatic roles of lesser relevance markers and offers insights into cross-cultural academic communication and English teaching.

Dental public health education in Egypt: a cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Dental Public Health (DPH) education prepares future workforce to promote positive oral health behaviors, prevent oral diseases, and monitor disease distribution and trends taking into considerations best practices, needs and available resources. Scarce information is available about dental education in African countries and Egypt has the greatest number of dental schools in Africa. This study assessed the undergraduate DPH education in Egyptian universities including topics taught, methods of teaching, assessment, and the academics' specialties. METHODS: A survey targeted 43 Egyptian universities with Bachelor of Dentistry (BDS) programs identified on the website of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Universities in 2022. Thirty-six deans could be reached by post and/ or email. The survey appraised the school profile and capacity, and methods of teaching and assessment in DPH courses in undergraduate dental programs. The survey also inquired who taught DPH courses and what was covered in the courses. Descriptive statistics were displayed. RESULTS: We received 21 (58.3%) responses from 36 deans/ senior officials. Of the universities, 52.4% were private and 47.6% were public. Most participants reported that DPH courses in BDS programs were taught by Pediatric Dentistry academics (71.4%) and DPH academics (57.1%) in 3rd, 4th and 5th years of the 5-year BDS programs. Teaching DPH consisted of face-to-face lectures (100%) and seminars (95.2%) and assessment included written exams with close ended questions (95.2%) and open-ended questions (71.4%). Twenty schools reported teaching the definition of DPH, definition of oral health, and determinants of oral diseases. Nine schools addressed the planning of oral health services and five schools taught about remuneration and payment systems. CONCLUSION: Teaching and assessment of DPH in Egyptian dental schools use traditional methods with limited active engagement of the students. Variations among the schools exist in the DPH topics covered and most instructors were not primarily specialized in DPH. Development of dental/ oral health services calls for more emphasis on DPH education in the curriculum in Egypt.

The Effectiveness of Online Learning in Improving the Electrocardiogram Interpretation Skills of Junior Medical Trainees: A Mixed Methods Observational Study.

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic hindered medical education and limited access to clinical skills training for trainee medical doctors, including electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation. These restrictions prompted a shift towards virtual training environments and online learning. In this study, we assessed the impact of the pandemic on trainees' confidence and their perceived difficulty in independently interpreting ECGs. Additionally, we examined the effectiveness of two online learning approaches, namely lectures and case-solving webinars, in improving their skills. Methods The study was a mixed methods observational study conducted in three phases. In the first phase, a cross-sectional study was conducted to subjectively assess the trainees' confidence levels and the perceived difficulty independently reading ECGs. The second phase involved a cohort study where an online learning module consisting of eight lecture-based sessions was implemented. This module covered all the topics recommended in the foundation doctor training curriculum. The third phase also involved a cohort study where an online case-based discussion learning module with two problem-solving webinars was introduced. We assessed the outcomes on a 1 to 10 Likert scale for confidence and perceived difficulty in independently reading ECGs. Results Sixty-five trainees participated in the initial cross-sectional study. Among them, 100% of the participants reported substantial difficulty in interpreting ECGs (scoring 6 or more on the Likert scale), and 76.5% of the participants did not feel enough confidence to read ECGs independently (scoring 6 or less). Ten trainees attended the second phase. Online lectures significantly increased the mean confidence score by 1.9 points (t(9) = 2.82, p = 0.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.38-3.42]) and significantly reduced the mean of the perceived difficulty score by 2.7 points (t(9) = 5.71, p < 0.001, 95% CI [1.63-3.77]). Compared to the online lectures, the online problem-solving sessions significantly increased the mean of the composite score of confidence and perceived difficulty in reading ECGs (-0.8 vs. 4 points, 95% CI [1.49, 8.26], p = 0.011). Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the ECG reading skills of junior medical trainees. However, the online teaching approach effectively improved their confidence and the level of difficulty they experienced in ECG interpretation. Applying online case problem-solving was found to be superior to the lecture-based approach in enhancing these parameters.

The potentials for incidental vocabulary acquisition from listening to computer science academic lectures: a higher education corpus-based case study from Macau.

Introduction: Universities in non-Anglophone countries are increasingly implementing English as the medium of instruction (EMI) lectures. There seems to be an assumption that students' performance on standardized English examinations can be equated with the lexical knowledge needed to comprehend EMI lectures regardless of discipline. For unknown words students encounter, it is assumed that they can be picked up through listening to these lectures. This potential for students to acquire unknown words incidentally while listening to these lectures has yet to be fully explored. Methods: This study addresses the potential of students incidentally acquiring vocabulary from listening to EMI lectures through corpus analyses of computer science lectures at one public university in Macau. Taking into consideration frequency, range, and lecturer explanation, corpus analyses of the transcripts of 28 computer science lectures (40 h 36 min) were conducted to determine the lexical knowledge needed for students to comprehend the lectures. The potential number of words these students could acquire through listening to the lectures was also uncovered through further analyses. Results: Results showed that L2 students need to have receptive knowledge of the most frequent 3,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words to reach beyond 95% lexical coverage. To reach 98% lexical coverage, 5,000 word families are needed. Considering frequency, range, and teacher explanation, we concluded that 30 new words could reasonably be incidentally acquired after listening to the 28 lectures. Discussion: These results indicate a need for EMI lecturers to consider the lexical knowledge of students and whether additional pedagogical techniques (i.e., vocabulary explanation) should be employed in content classrooms when lectures are delivered in English, especially for specialized fields such as computer science. Our results also draw attention to the importance of field specific vocabulary and the potential pitfalls of using blanket English language admissions criteria when admitting students to different academic programs.

Creation of a Didactic Clinical Pharmacology Lecture Series for Internal Medicine Residents.

INTRODUCTION: One of the noted areas of weakness for internal medicine residents is pharmacology. However, there is little data documenting the creation and effect of a comprehensive pharmacology didactic program. Our goal was to create a two-year clinical pharmacology didactic program focused on areas of stated weakness and to evaluate this program for an increase in knowledge and prescribing confidence of the participants. METHODS: From August 2020 to June 2022, a two-year pharmacology program was developed, which included 20 didactic lectures on a variety of topics. Pre- and post-tests were given for 15 of the lectures, and four surveys were given, two during each year of the program. Four questions on each survey were the same and asked about confidence in choosing an appropriate medication based on current guidelines, patient-specific factors, primary literature, and pharmacokinetics. RESULTS:  Over the two years, participation in the pharmacology sessions ranged from 17 to 29 residents (65-74% of the residency class). The average pre- and post-test scores increased by an average of 25.1%, which was a statistically significant increase (p<0.001, 95% CI [17.5, 32.8]). A Kruskal-Wallis H test showed a statistically significant difference in resident-reported confidence adjusting medications based on primary literature between the different survey groups, χ2 = 9.871, p = 0.02. CONCLUSION: A two-year, didactic pharmacology program improved the knowledge of resident participants and confidence in their ability to choose an appropriate medication based on primary literature.

Development of a national Zoom-based lectureship for pediatric transplant hepatology trainees.

BACKGROUND: Previous publications identified a gap in standard education on topics related to advanced hepatology and liver transplantation for pediatric transplant hepatology trainees. The Society of Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT) Education Committee designed a Zoom-based lectureship series for all advanced pediatric transplant hepatology trainees. We aim to describe the educational series and feedback from fellow participants. METHODS: Pediatric transplant hepatology trainees from across the United States and Canada were invited to attend 25 Zoom-based lectures on a broad list of topics pertaining to pediatric transplant hepatology. At the completion of the lectureship, a 53-item REDcap survey using single-answer, Likert-scale, and open-ended questions was distributed via email to all participants. RESULTS: A total of 16 fellows from broad geographic areas responded to the survey. Nineteen percent (n = 3/16) of fellows attended all 25 lectures and 31% (n = 5/16) attended 16-20 lectures. Majority of fellows (88%, n = 14/16) reported the lecture series increased knowledge of liver disease, increased confidence in managing children with liver disease, and aided with board preparation. Additionally, over half of the fellows (81%, n = 13/16) reported the series served as a platform for networking and mentoring from peers and experts in the field. All fellows recommended the lecture series for future fellows. CONCLUSION: The SPLIT educational lectureship for advanced pediatric transplant hepatology trainees provided a national education curriculum that not only led to increased knowledge and confidence in the diagnosis and management of common conditions encountered in pediatric transplant hepatology but also provided a unique networking and mentorship environment.

Online, Interactive, Digital Visualisation Resources that Enhance Histology Education.

Teaching histology is expensive, particularly in some universities with limited or ageing resources such as microscope equipment and inadequate histological slide collections. Increasing numbers of student enrolments have required duplications of laboratory classes. Such practical classes are staff intensive and so teaching hours are increased. Technology can now solve many of these issues but perhaps, more importantly, can also cater to the self-directed and independent learning needs of today's learners.This chapter will describe and evaluate distinct innovations available on a global scale, utilising both technology-enhanced and interactive learning strategies to revolutionise histology teaching via successful online delivery of learning resources. Histology students can access these innovations to maximise their learning and enable them to complete all learning outcomes away from the traditional classroom environment (i.e., online). Most appropriately, all of these innovations address and help solve cognitive challenges that students experience in histology learning.Lecture recording platforms with engaging functionalities have enabled students to view lectures online. Using new innovative histology resources has eliminated the need for students to attend practical histology laboratory sessions. Instead, students can now study histology successfully and enjoyably in their own time. Learners can interact with unlimited numbers of high-quality images and click on hyperlinked text to identify key features of histological structures. Students can now use virtual microscopy to view digitised histological sections (virtual microscopy) at increasing levels of magnification. Consequently, there is no requirement for academic staff to be present when directing students through their learning objectives, which therefore eliminates formal, scheduled practical classes. The learning platforms offer a variety of formative assessment formats. On completion of a quiz, instant feedback can be provided for students, which makes histology learning efficient and can significantly improve student performance in examinations.However, there remains the issue that three-dimensional (3D) interpretation from traditional two-dimensional (2D) representations of cell, tissue, and organ structure can be cognitively challenging for many students. The popularity of using animations and 3D reconstructions to help learners understand and remember information has greatly increased since the advent of powerful graphics-oriented computers. This technology allows animations to be produced much more easily and cheaply than in previous years, whilst Cinema 4D technology has enhanced a new paradigm shift in teaching histology. 3D reconstruction and animations can meet the educational need and solve the dilemma.

A Multimedia Evaluation of Pharmacy Faculty PowerPoint Slides in a Critical Care Course.

OBJECTIVES: To conduct a pilot investigation about the alignment between didactic multimedia materials utilized by pharmacy faculty, with Mayer's Principles for Multimedia Learning and faculty characteristics associated with greater alignment. METHODS: An investigatory systematic process was used which included a modified Learning Object Review Instrument (LORI) to evaluate the faculty video-recorded lectures for alignment with Mayer's Principles of Multimedia Learning, hence capturing the number and type of misalignments. Correlations were performed to evaluate the association between faculty characteristics; and ratings and proportions of misalignments. RESULTS: Five hundred fifty-five PowerPoint slides of 13 lectures from 13 faculty members were reviewed. The average (SD) LORI score per slide was 4.44 (0.84) out of 5 with an average score per lecture ranging from 3.83 (0.96) to 4.95 (0.53). Across all lecture slides, misalignments with multimedia principles were captured in 20.2% of slides. For each lecture, the average percentage of misalignments was 27.6% ranging from 0% to 49%. Principal misalignments included violation of the principles of coherence (66.1%), signaling (15.2%), and segmenting (8%). No faculty characteristics were significantly associated with LORI ratings or proportion of misalignments within lectures. CONCLUSIONS: Faculty had high LORI ratings for their multimedia material but these varied significantly between lectures. Misalignments with multimedia principles were identified and were related primarily to extraneous processing. These misalignments, when addressed, have the potential to improve learning, thus suggesting an opportunity for the faculty to develop ways to optimize multimedia educational delivery. Future investigation is needed to clarify how clinical pharmacy faculty can develop multimedia material and the impact of faculty development on the application of multimedia principles and learning outcomes.

Influence of instructor's facial expressions in video lectures on motor learning in children with autism spectrum disorder.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, video materials have played crucial roles in supporting learning among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aimed to explore the effects of the instructor's facial expressions in video lectures on attention and motor learning in children with ASD versus typically developing (TD) children. A total of 60 children were randomly assigned to four groups: (1) ASD-happy, (2) ASD-neutral, (3) TD-happy, and (4) TD-neutral. Both happy groups paid more attention to the video lectures. The ASD groups achieved higher accuracy and fidelity of motor learning when the instructor smiled. Results revealed that greater attention to video lectures predicted better performance in children with ASD. This study has practical implications for the design of learning materials for children with ASD: An instructor should be encouraged to show a happy expression to promote learning.

Learning From Recorded Lectures: Perceptions of Students With ADHD.

With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, education systems worldwide, including higher education institutions, switched to remote learning in various modes, including recordings of lectures and lessons. Learning this way can be especially effective for students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) who have difficulties maintaining organization, focus, and concentration. Hence, this qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to examine the perceptions of 12 students with ADHD that studied from recorded lectures from the perspective of the symptoms that define this disorder. Findings showed that learning from recordings of lectures gave students a sense of control over the learning in terms of pace, place, time, and convenience. The research contributes to understanding how to tailor accessible remote learning to students with ADHD.

Does active participation via integrated questions in large lectures matter?

This paper investigates whether the intensity of participation in large lecture quizzes in a tertiary education context, facilitated and monitored by an online platform, is associated with better examination performance. The platform mirrors lecture slides onto student devices and uses integrated "clicker" style questions within the lecture to quiz students on concepts learned. Using regression, we find that the intensity of quiz participation is positively related to students' performance. Student study perceptions, based on study and career plans, moderate the results. These findings are relevant to educators, especially in a post-COVID-19 learning environment, where the online quiz function could be used to foster participation.

The Effectiveness of Online-Only Blended Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training: Static-Group Comparison Study.

BACKGROUND: Basic life support (BLS) education is essential for improving bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) rates, but the imparting of such education faces obstacles during the outbreak of emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. When face-to-face teaching is limited, distance learning-blended learning (BL) or an online-only model-is encouraged. However, evidence regarding the effect of online-only CPR training is scarce, and comparative studies on classroom-based BL (CBL) are lacking. While other strategies have recommended self-directed learning and deliberate practice to enhance CPR education, no previous studies have incorporated all of these instructional methods into a BLS course. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to demonstrate a novel BLS training model-remote practice BL (RBL)-and compare its educational outcomes with those of the conventional CBL model. METHODS: A static-group comparison study was conducted. It included RBL and CBL courses that shared the same paradigm, comprising online lectures, a deliberate practice session with Little Anne quality CPR (QCPR) manikin feedback, and a final assessment session. In the main intervention, the RBL group was required to perform distant self-directed deliberate practice and complete the final assessment via an online video conference. Manikin-rated CPR scores were measured as the primary outcome; the number of retakes of the final examination was the secondary outcome. RESULTS: A total of 52 and 104 participants from the RBL and CBL groups, respectively, were eligible for data analysis. A comparison of the 2 groups revealed that there were more women in the RBL group than the CBL group (36/52, 69.2% vs 51/104, 49%, respectively; P=.02). After adjustment, there were no significant differences in scores for QCPR release (96.9 vs 96.4, respectively; P=.61), QCPR depth (99.2 vs 99.5, respectively; P=.27), or QCPR rate (94.9 vs 95.5, respectively; P=.83). The RBL group spent more days practicing before the final assessment (12.4 vs 8.9 days, respectively; P<.001) and also had a higher number of retakes (1.4 vs 1.1 times, respectively; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: We developed a remote practice BL-based method for online-only distant BLS CPR training. In terms of CPR performance, using remote self-directed deliberate practice was not inferior to the conventional classroom-based instructor-led method, although it tended to take more time to achieve the same effect. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

Can prompts improve self-explaining an online video lecture? Yes, but do not disturb!

In recent years, COVID-19 policy measures massively affected university teaching. Seeking an effective and viable way to transform their lecture material into asynchronous online settings, many lecturers relied on prerecorded video lectures. Whereas researchers in fact recommend implementing prompts to ensure students process those video lectures sufficiently, open questions about the types of prompts and role of students' engagement remain. We thus conducted an online field experiment with teacher students at a German university (N = 124; 73 female, 49 male). According to the randomly assigned experimental conditions, the online video lecture on topic Cognitive Apprenticeship was supplemented by (A) notes prompts (n = 31), (B) principle-based self-explanation prompts (n = 36), (C) elaboration-based self-explanation prompts (n = 29), and (D) both principle- and elaboration-based self-explanation prompts (n = 28). We found that the lecture fostered learning outcomes about its content regardless of the type of prompt. The type of prompt did induce different types of self-explanations, but had no significant effect on learning outcomes. What indeed positively and significantly affected learning outcomes were the students' self-explanation quality and their persistence (i.e., actual participation in a delayed posttest). Finally, the self-reported number of perceived interruptions negatively affected learning outcomes. Our findings thus provide ecologically valid empirical support for how fruitful it is for students to engage themselves in self-explaining and to avoid interruptions when learning from asynchronous online video lectures.

Did You Get That? Predicting Learners' Comprehension of a Video Lecture from Visualizations of Their Gaze Data.

In online lectures, unlike in face-to-face lectures, teachers lack access to (nonverbal) cues to check if their students are still "with them" and comprehend the lecture. The increasing availability of low-cost eye-trackers provides a promising solution. These devices measure unobtrusively where students look and can visualize these data to teachers. These visualizations might inform teachers about students' level of "with-me-ness" (i.e., do students look at the information that the teacher is currently talking about) and comprehension of the lecture, provided that (1) gaze measures of "with-me-ness" are related to comprehension, (2) people not trained in eye-tracking can predict students' comprehension from gaze visualizations, (3) we understand how different visualization techniques impact this prediction. We addressed these issues in two studies. In Study 1, 36 students watched a video lecture while being eye-tracked. The extent to which students looked at relevant information and the extent to which they looked at the same location as the teacher both correlated with students' comprehension (score on an open question) of the lecture. In Study 2, 50 participants watched visualizations of students' gaze (from Study 1), using six visualization techniques (dynamic and static versions of scanpaths, heatmaps, and focus maps) and were asked to predict students' posttest performance and to rate their ease of prediction. We found that people can use gaze visualizations to predict learners' comprehension above chance level, with minor differences between visualization techniques. Further research should investigate if teachers can act on the information provided by gaze visualizations and thereby improve students' learning.

Game-based learning in dental education.

PURPOSE: The incorporation of interactive elements using technology increases student enjoyment and classroom learning effectiveness. This study investigated the usage of an online gamification platform in the dental school environment and compared game-based learning attitudes among students in different stages of their 4-year training program. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among dental medicine students in Years: 1 (Y1), 2 (Y2), 3 (Y3), and 4 (Y4) at a US-based dental school. The 11-item survey explored student perceptions on the effects of playing the Kahoots quiz game, using the 5-point Likert scale. Responses among male and female students were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test, with responses of students in different years of dental school analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: Average student age was 25 (range 20-45 years) upon starting dental school. Of 206 study participants, n = 129 (63%) were males and n = 74 (36%) females, n = 70 (34.0%) were Y1; n = 52 (25.2%), Y2; n = 48 (23.3%), Y3; and n = 36 (17.5%), Y4. Males tried harder to answer game questions than females (p = 0.027). Compared to students in the upper 3 years, the Y1 students reported that they tried harder to win (p = 0.002), the games held (p = 0.002) and motivated them to pay attention (p < 0.001), helped them understand (p = 0.021) and to retain lecture concepts (p = 0.010), and aided in the preparation for exams (p = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: Dental students in all stages of their 4-year training programs, especially Y1 students, reported positive perceptions of gamified learning and believed that it was helpful in identifying difficult concepts and motivating them to study.