Online Illustrations for Students’ SelfLearning: A Review using Dentistry as an Example

Abstract

Introduction With the growth of available video and multimedia resources, there is a need to revisit the relevance of illustrations in contemporary dental education. Knowing whether online illustrations help students self-learn will provide information for educators on whether illustrative materials are self-explanatory in the study topic of interest. Materials and methods This literature review followed the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis” (PRISMA) guidelines. Scopus was the selected database as it includes Medline, Embase and Compendex coverage of studies published to July 2020. The search strategy consisted of a string of important keywords: 1) Type of activity “Learning”: (learn OR educat OR stud); 2) Medium of learning “Online”: (e-learning OR online OR virtual OR internet); 3) Field of study “Dentistry”: (dental OR dentistry); and 4) Type of material “Visual”: (visual OR photo OR image OR illustrat OR manual skills). Results Three studies met the inclusion criteria. Two studies were conducted as questionnaire-based surveys and one was carried out as a focus group discussion. Evidence suggests students found online illustrative materials important, helpful and they enhance confidence in their learning. Conclusion Visual learning is important in education and based on these review findings, students found online illustrations useful. This allows us to reaffirm the importance of including pictures and illustrations during our learning course.