Abstract
Purpose: Dental education institutions worldwide experienced disruptive changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a rapid switch to the online learning format. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental education and evaluates the perceptions and attitudes of students towards the introduction of online learning in the School of Dental Medicine in Zagreb, Croatia. Methods: A survey was conducted on a population of undergraduate students. It was comprised of perceptions and attitudes of students on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their psychoemotional status, changes introduced in the educational system, and online learning in particular. Results: Of the 352 students that completed the survey, 66.2% of students reported being psychoemotionally affected by the lockdown. The most significant impact of the switch from in-person to online learning was observed in terms of missing contact with lecturers (60.3%) and peers (90.3%) and loss of practical courses, regarding which 65% of students agreed that they could not be compensated. While only 36.1% reported that online teaching fully met their expectations, the majority of the students (61.9%) agreed that online lectures were as valuable as in-person lectures and that the theoretical courses could be carried out online in the future as well (69.9%). Conclusions: Students reported relative satisfaction with changes in the learning format and a positive attitude towards online learning; however, several challenges and obstacles were identified.
Highlights
After less than three months of the first official report on the identification of the novel coronavirus in China, known as SARS-CoV-2, the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic in mid-March 2020 due to its unprecedented spread rate [1,2,3]
The present study evaluated the self-perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental education and students’ perspectives and attitudes towards online learning
An Italian survey of 501 university students from Rome reported that the COVID-19 pandemic put the student population at risk for psychological distress, and one of the factors associated with the increase of anxiety was the female gender [22]
Summary
After less than three months of the first official report on the identification of the novel coronavirus in China, known as SARS-CoV-2, the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic in mid-March 2020 due to its unprecedented spread rate [1,2,3]. Exposure to infectious respiratory fluids was defined as the main mode of viral transmission, mostly in a non-contact manner through droplets and aerosols [4,5,6,7]. A series of behavioural and social measures, among which physical distancing, was recommended and introduced to prevent and reduce viral transmission [8,9]. Organization (UNESCO) reported that at the peak of the crisis in March and April 2020, more than 1.6 billion learners of 190 countries were affected by school closures, and some still remain affected [10]. In Croatia, all onsite university-level classes were suspended on
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