Assessment of e-learning in prosthodontics during COVID-19 pandemic: Perspective of students and faculty

Akansha Vilas Bansod; Sweta Kale Pisulkar; Seema Sathe Kambala; Surekha Anil Dubey

doi:10.4103/jdmimsu.jdmimsu_441_21

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Year : 2022 | Volume : 17 | Issue : 4 | Page : 891-897

Assessment of e-learning in prosthodontics during COVID-19 pandemic: Perspective of students and faculty

Akansha Vilas Bansod, Sweta Kale Pisulkar, Seema Sathe Kambala, Surekha Anil Dubey
Department of Prosthodontics, Sharad Pawar Dental College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India

Date of Submission	02-Dec-2021
Date of Acceptance	24-May-2022
Date of Web Publication	10-Feb-2023

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Akansha Vilas Bansod
Department of Prosthodontics, Sharad Pawar Dental College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Sawangi (M), Wardha, Maharashtra
India

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

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DOI: 10.4103/jdmimsu.jdmimsu_441_21

Abstract

Background: The goal of this study was to analyze the dental students' and faculty's perceptions of the usefulness of e-learning in prosthodontics during the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample size of 213 students and 10 faculty members was conducted at the institutional level. The participants' perspectives on e-learning were formed using prevalidated anonymous questionnaires, one for students and the other for faculty, each including a total of 20 questions, both closed and open ended. The data were examined using SPSS version 24.0 for statistical analysis. Mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive statistics, whereas frequencies and percentages were used for categorical data. Results: The survey participants, students, and instructors all agreed that online classes had certain advantages since they fit better into their schedules. Both students and professors were dissatisfied with the learning quality because the prosthodontics subject is mostly a practical domain that necessitates active demonstrations and debates to master the practical aspects of the subject. Discussion: The results of this study revealed the substantial challenges that teachers and dental students encounter when it comes to e-learning in prosthodontics. These findings can be used to improve students' and faculty's learning experiences, as well as to develop an effective and productive online learning platform. Conclusion: The current study's findings revealed the substantial challenges that dental students and instructors confront when it comes to e learning in prosthodontics. This can then be used to advise the university's dentistry education section in developing an effective and productive online teaching platform aimed at improving students' learning experiences.

Keywords: COVID-19, e-learning in prosthodontics, student and faculty perspectives

How to cite this article:
Bansod AV, Pisulkar SK, Kambala SS, Dubey SA. Assessment of e-learning in prosthodontics during COVID-19 pandemic: Perspective of students and faculty. J Datta Meghe Inst Med Sci Univ 2022;17:891-7

How to cite this URL:
Bansod AV, Pisulkar SK, Kambala SS, Dubey SA. Assessment of e-learning in prosthodontics during COVID-19 pandemic: Perspective of students and faculty. J Datta Meghe Inst Med Sci Univ [serial online] 2022 [cited 2023 Apr 1];17:891-7. Available from: http://www.journaldmims.com/text.asp?2022/17/4/891/369507

Introduction

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has put the globe on hold as the country has gone into complete lockdown. Countries all across the world have implemented various social-distancing strategies to limit the spread of disease. The enactment of the lockdown restricted people's movements and interrupted their daily routines. The COVID-19 scenario had a huge impact on the education sector all across the world.^[1] Educational institutions were pressed to make a quick transition from traditional teaching methods to online learning. This global transformation has affected our academic institution as well.^[2]

It is widely acknowledged that students' perceptions of the benefits and value of online learning, as well as their attitudes, are essential elements in determining success.^[3] However, most research focus primarily on the viewpoints of students, and to our knowledge, no survey on the use of online learning in prosthodontics dentistry education has taken into account both students' and faculty's opinions.^[4] However, all perspectives must be considered for effective online course building.

Prosthodontics has a significant and important practical area, and blended learning combines face-to-face learning with online teaching modalities, which are merged in e-learning modules. This allows each student to learn in a group setting as well as on their own at their own pace and at a time that is convenient for them, demonstrating student-centered learning. The complexities of the dentistry curriculum, particularly practical disciplines like prosthodontics, may be a roadblock to successfully transitioning and converting a previously effective style of traditional learning into an online teaching platform of similar potency.^[5] According to Ahmed et al., dentists around the world are experiencing constant worry and anxiety as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Practice adjustment, as well as ongoing educational sessions via e-learning, infection control seminars, and some fear reduction psychological sessions for severely worried dental personnel provided by a team of experienced psychologists, were recommended to reduce this anxiety.^[6],[7]

This research has aided in the basic appraisal of the situation based on students' and faculty's perceptions, preventing distress among students and faculty, and leading to primary care. As a result, the purpose of this study is to determine how dental students and instructors feel about the usefulness of prosthodontics e-learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their thoughts on the difficulties they had in transitioning to this new way of learning were also discussed.

Materials and Methods

Ethical aspect

The Institutional Ethical Committee granted ethical clearance to the proposed study to address the study's ethical element (IEC No. DMIMS [DU]/IEC/2020-21/262).

Study design

The study was conducted in a cross-sectional manner.

Sample size calculation

Two hundred and thirteen undergraduate students and 10 faculty members from the department of prosthodontics at a dental college from a university in Central India region were used to calculate the responses.

Inclusion criteria

Undergraduate dental students who took online classes from the 1^st to the 4^th year were eligible
Faculty members with prior experience teaching online prosthodontics classes were included in this study.

Exclusion criteria

Students and professors who had never participated in online teaching–learning in the field of prosthodontics were excluded.

Intervention

The participants' perspectives on e-learning were determined using prevalidated anonymous questionnaires, one for students and the other for faculty, each including a total of 20 questions, including closed- and open-ended questions.

Google Docs was used to create the questionnaires (www.docs.google.com). Through social media and E-mail, the form was sent to dentistry students and professors. The survey was broken into five sections by the students. The study participants were questioned about their demographic information in the first section. The students were asked about the quality of technical resources and general questions concerning online instruction in the second section of the survey. In the third and fourth sections of the survey, students' self-perceived effectiveness of online classes was assessed using a five-point Likert scale. Finally, in the fifth portion, they were asked open-ended questions about their future learning preferences and suggestions for improving online learning. A similar questionnaire was created for academics to gauge their viewpoint.

Statistical analysis

SPSS version 24.0 (Ill., USA) was used to analyze the data. All categorical characteristics were provided as frequencies and percentages, whereas descriptive statistics were reported as mean and standard deviation.

Results

A total of 213 undergraduate dental students and 10 faculty members from the department of prosthodontics at a dental college in Central India region replied to this online survey, which was done using Google Docs.

The study comprised a total of 213 students who met the inclusion criteria. The average age of the participants in the study was 20.43. There were 41 males (19.2%) and 172 females (80.8%) in the group. The study comprised a total of ten teaching faculty who met the inclusion criteria. The average age of the participants in the study was 33.00 4.21. There were 5 (50.0%) males and 5 (50.0%) females in the group [Table 1].

Table 1: Demographic details of the study population (students and faculty)

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A total of 191 pupils (89.7%) had access to the internet, whereas 22 (10.3%) did not. Smartphones were used by the majority of students (167; 62.9%), followed by desktop/laptop computers (40; 18.8%) and tablets(6%). The majority of the students reported receiving class schedule notifications via WhatsApp group 134 (62.9%), followed by mail 56 (26.3%), institutional website 21 (9.9%), and individual text on cell phone 2% (0.9%) [Table 2].

Table 2: Quality of technological resource and general questions about online learning

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Nine out of ten teaching faculty members (90%) had internet access, whereas 1 (10%) did not. All ten members of the teaching staff (100%) were using a desktop or laptop computer. Six (60%) students received class schedule notifications via WhatsApp group, and 20% by mail [Table 2].{Table 2}

Students' responses to questions about the quality of the subject's e-learning, interest and motivation of students and faculty toward e-learning, and future learning preferences were assessed using a five-point Likert scale (strongly agree = 1, agree = 2, neutral = 3, disagree = 4, and strongly disagree = 5) [Table 3] and [Table 4].

Table 3: Responses of students to questions related to quality of e-learning of the subject, interest, and motivation of students toward e-learning and future learning preference

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Table 4: Responses of faculty to questions related to quality of e-learning of the subject, interest, and motivation of students toward e-learning and future learning preference

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Although taking classes online had several advantages, like participants in the study, students, and teachers all concurred on, because they fit better into their schedules. Both students and professors were dissatisfied with the learning quality because the prosthodontics subject is mostly a practical domain that necessitates active demonstrations and debates to master the practical aspects of the subject. Although the majority of students and faculty believed that online learning was a good choice in the current scenario, 68% of students and 50% of faculty disagreed that these online classes should be continued.

Discussion

During the present COVID-19 epidemic, educational institutions all over the world had to become acquainted with and adopt e-learning platforms. Before the epidemic, our society was accustomed to traditional teaching and learning methods, and the usage of online platforms was limited.^[8] However, within a week after the implementation of national lockdown and complete closure of daily activity, educational institutes all over the world had to become familiar with various e-learning modalities and forums.^[9]

As part of the questionnaire, the current study was undertaken with the aspects of e-learning in the topic of prosthodontics in mind. The goal was to see what problems students and teachers faced as a result of the abrupt change in teaching and learning methods, particularly in the skill-based topic of prosthodontics.

The majority of students and professors had access to a good internet connection and an uninterrupted electric supply, according to the findings of the current survey. These findings contrasted Nimavat's research, which focused on the obstacles faced by medical students as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10] Because our institution is located in a remote area, the people's two most significant issues are power outages and bad internet connectivity.

Smartphones were assessed as having the highest usage among students, whereas laptops/desktops were primarily used by teachers for online class delivery. WhatsApp was the most often used method of notification among both students and faculty. Matzavela and Alepis, who reported regular use of portable devices with internet connection for online learning, agreed with these findings.^[11] There have been studies that show that people prefer to use smartphones because of their portability, ease of access to data, and time management capabilities, prompting the need for more mobile-friendly platforms and, as a result, incorporating a diverse approach as part of the official teaching curriculum.^[12],[13]

Overall, students were pleased with the teacher's ability to give online lessons with ease. These findings can be attributed to the pressing necessity for academics to become familiar with internet technology. These findings are consistent with prior research, which found that delivering good online education in skill-based subjects like prosthodontics is difficult.^[5] We believe that teachers should be trained in increasing the quality of present online sessions, and that the move from traditional onsite teaching to online sessions will take some time to adjust to. Faculty members were also pleased with how the online information was delivered, and they noted that they make an effort to give lessons in the form of demonstrations and films, in addition to didactic lectures, to cover the practical aspects of the subject.

The current study looked into the students' and faculty's interest in and motivation for online learning in the field of prosthodontics. It was discovered that all undergraduate dental students, regardless of their year in the program, expressed general unhappiness with online classes. Students stated that they are not as attentive and concentrated as they would be in a traditional campus classroom. Face-to-face lectures and demonstrations were favored by both teachers and students as being more interactive than online ones. Furthermore, the majority of students and professors were against the online sessions continuing after campus operations were fully restored. These findings back up prior research, which found that the vast majority of medical and dental students still prefer traditional teaching–learning techniques and are more comfortable studying from books and lectures presented in person.^[14],[15] Students, on the other hand, have been observed in some studies to prefer a blended approach, in which traditional lectures are paired with online recorded sessions to complement coursework content and assignments, as well as to enhance students' knowledge and learning experience.^[16],[17] Because e-learning is still a relatively new idea, significant efforts are required to address students' concerns, create more successful and effective teaching methods, and improve students' learning experiences.^[18],[19] Faculty suggested that skills be hybridized with didactic teaching to improve student skill learning, and that the most important aspect of e-learning in the subject of prosthodontics, from the faculty's perspective, was the integration of information and communication technology-based technology for continuous learning even in contingencies.^[20],[21]

The amount of data obtained from students and teachers from only one university is a constraint of the current survey, restricting the study participants and their opinions. The performance of the online teaching platforms may have been explained if students and professors from other private and government dentistry colleges had been included. It may be useful to compare whether institutions responded rapidly to the pressing appeal of online learning by establishing institutionally based online LMS systems.

The purpose of this study was to find out how dental students and instructors felt about the usefulness of prosthodontics e-learning during the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is a cross-sectional study, the strobe checklist was followed for interpretation of the results at each step [Table 5]. Students and professors felt that online learning was a solid alternative for learning the theoretical component of education in the current scenario, but most of them chose face-to-face learning over e-learning in the field of prosthodontics. In addition, many students and faculty members were pleased with the quality of e-learning tools in the field of prosthodontics. These findings can be used to assess the effectiveness of e-learning in the field of prosthodontics. This analysis aids in reducing the stress experienced by students and instructors as a result of the abrupt transition from on-site to online teaching–learning, which is ultimately beneficial in education and health.

Table 5: Strobe Statement–Checklist of items that should be included in reports of cross-sectional studies

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Conclusion

In light of the current COVID epidemic, the purpose of this study was to find out what undergraduate dental students and instructors thought about the efficiency of e-learning in prosthodontics. The findings of our study revealed that both dentistry students and teachers were dissatisfied with several aspects of online learning. This is reasonable because it is a modernistic method taken in reaction to the pandemic's hurry and in the expectation of continuing scholarly activities.

Despite the fact that each university has developed its own LMS system, it is still in its infancy. The shift from onsite to online teaching–learning sessions has been critical. This migration will take time to master. Dental schools will need to engage in faculty professional development programs and change their online teaching content on a regular basis. Faculty and students should be provided with internet Wi-Fi devices to improve the virtual learning environment, as well as portable devices, particularly smartphones, that are compatible with LMS systems. The current study's findings revealed the substantial challenges that dental students and instructors confront when it comes to e-learning in prosthodontics. This can then be used to advise the university's dentistry education section in developing an effective and productive online teaching platform aimed at improving students' learning experiences.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

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