Perceptions of Clinical Dental Students Toward Online Education During the COVID-19 Crisis: An Egyptian Multicenter Cross-Sectional Survey.

Reham Hassan,Tarek Elsewify,Ayman R Khalifa,Mohamed G Hassan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704179

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the perceptions of clinical dental students on the role of online education in providing dental education during the COVID-19 crisis.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was sent to four Egyptian dental schools from the 20th of January 2021 to the 3rd of February 2021. Survey questions included the demographics, uses, experiences, perceived benefits, and barriers of distance learning in dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses were collected from the clinical dental school students. Categorical data were presented as frequencies (n) and percentages (%) and were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test.Results: Three hundred thirty-seven clinical dental students across four Egyptian dental schools responded. Most students used either Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams to access the online content. The data showed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the academic performance of most participants (97.4%) with varying degrees. On average, students were neutral when asked to rate the online lectures, but did not find online practical education as effective (81.3%) as online theoretical teaching. The commonly described barriers to online teaching included loss of interaction with educators, inappropriateness in gaining clinical skills, and the instability of the internet connection.Conclusion: Despite the reported benefits, clinical dental students in Egypt preferred the hybrid approach in dental education as distance learning represented a prime challenge to gain adequate clinical dental skills.

Highlights

In December 2019, COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China (Li et al, 2020)
With the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is foreseeable that many dental academic institutions have shifted to online education platforms instead of in-person education (Hassan and Amer, 2021; Herr et al, 2021)
We explored the major challenges during the transition into distance learning, overall satisfaction as well as a future vision toward online education in dental education among clinical dental students in public and private Egyptian dental schools

Summary

Introduction

In December 2019, COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China (Li et al, 2020). The COVID-19 outbreak rapidly spread worldwide and on the 15th of March 2020, the WHO announced COVID-19 as a pandemic (WHO/Europe, 2020). The majority of the educational institutions during the first and the second waves closed campuses and transitioned from physical attendance to virtual learning (Hassan and Amer, 2021). In this pandemic, many countries, including Egypt, began to implement precautionary measures, such as social distancing and lockdowns of educational institutions in order to control and mitigate the pandemic (Social Distancing, 2020). The pandemic affected clinical training for dental students, which could delay them from taking regional dental board exams or completing other graduation requirements (Hassan and Amer, 2021; Hung et al, 2021). The resumption of in-person practical dental courses (laboratory, pre-clinical, and clinical), which are important for the development of skills of dentist training, are fundamentally important to assure educational and therapeutic services in a safe environment for students, faculty, and patients

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