Dental Students and Faculty Perceptions of Teaching Methods: Traditional Classes, Online Virtual Classes, and Recorded Lectures

1. INTRODUCTION

In this era, in a time of rapid technological advancements, one may question whether the traditional classroom-based lectures still play a role in students having an effective and satisfactory learning experience. Dental schools around the world are increasingly providing online educational resources to their students, whether as a supplement or as a substitute for traditional face-to-face learning that takes place in a classroom environment. Some of the commonly used resources are e-learning or Learning Management Systems (LMS), web-based courseware and lecture recording technologies [1-3]. Dental education is unique in that it requires students to acquire knowledge, clinical skills and professional behaviors in order to become competent and safe health professionals [2, 4]. Hence, the undergraduate dental curriculum is designed to prepare students to achieve this by integrating theoretical learning with preclinical and clinical training [5]. Didactic teaching plays a major role in the acquisition of knowledge during early (preclinical) years of dental school; however, hands-on training and clinical practice become more important during the later (clinical) years of dental education for gaining skills and behaviors [2, 4, 5]. While online and e-learning tools can be useful for didactic learning, they can be challenging for pre-clinical and clinical learning [2].

The literature presents varying views regarding how students and faculty accept alternative learning strategies as compared to traditional lectures and how these impact students’ learning and their academic success. Online learning is becoming more appreciated by students because of its convenience and flexibility, offering access to educational materials anytime and anywhere [6-8]. Several studies have evaluated dental students’ perceptions regarding web-based delivery of didactic material for different courses in undergraduate curricula [7, 9-12]. These studies reported students’ positive attitudes and satisfaction concerning web-based learning. Moreover, students believe that viewing recorded lectures either in audio or video formats of the materials that are given in a classroom setting aids their performance, concomitantly reducing academic anxiety and improving the quality of their learning experience [13-15]. It also lowers students’ stress which appears when the recorded materials of unattended lectures are reviewed [16, 17].

Despite the seemingly positive students’ perceptions toward the availability of recorded lectures and other learning materials, it is still a matter of ongoing debate at the teaching institutions and faculty level. Accessibility to such educational recourses requires expensive software in addition to the cost of technical support and training of faculty members, as some of them are unfamiliar with such technologies, consequently unwilling to include them in their teaching, while others are concerned about copyright issues, or that such resources may encourage students’ unexcused absenteeism, subsequently impacting students’ academic performance [18, 19].

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in drastic changes in all life aspects, including the delivery of higher education [20-23]. Preventive measures taken by governments, including social distancing and schools’ closure, had precluded face-to-face teaching and led to the switch to remote education either by giving students access to previously recorded lectures or by conducting online virtual classes [20-23]. Understanding the perception of students and faculty members toward various instructional method will allow us to identify opportunities for optimizing training and facilitating the effective use of these technologies.

The aim of this study was to evaluate students’ and faculty members’ perceptions toward the online teaching methods (virtual classes and recorded lectures) implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic for the didactic part of the curriculum, and compare them to lectures given in traditional classrooms during the pre-pandemic period.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

3. RESULTS

3.2. Availability of Recorded Materials and Classroom Attendance

The majority of faculty members (80.6%) and students (89.9%) agreed that the availability of recorded materials is beneficial for the students’ education (Table 3). At the same time, over 77.0% of the faculty believed that the availability of recorded lectures will negatively impact students’ attendance of the classroom lectures (Table 2).

When faculty members and students were asked about their opinion regarding the physical classroom attendance with the availability of recorded materials, there was a significant difference found in their responses (p <0.001). Most of the faculty (83.9%) thought that lecture attendance should be mandatory, whereas more than half of students (67.1%) believed that the lecture attendance should be optional (Fig. 1, Table 3). Furthermore, 93.6% of faculty and 55.0% of students believed that recorded materials could be used only as a supplement to classroom attendance rather than its substitute (p <0.001) (Fig. 2, Table 3).

Table 3.

Statements	Levels	Faculty n =31	Students n = 149
				p-value #
The availability of recorded materials is beneficial for students’ education	Agree	25 (80.6)	134 (89.9)	0.259
	Neutral	3 (9.7)	8 (5.4)
	Disagree	3 (9.7)	7 (4.7)
Given the availability of the recorded materials, classroom attendance for students should be optional	Agree	4 (12.9)	100 (67.1)	<0.001**
	Neutral	1 (3.2)	27 (18.1)
	Disagree	26 (83.9)	22 (14.8)
If the classroom lectures are canceled, the availability of the recorded materials is adequate	Agree	3 (9.7)	125 (83.9)	<0.001**
	Neutral	3 (9.7)	9 (6.0)
	Disagree	25 (80.6)	15 (10.1)
Attending virtual interactive online lectures is an effective learning method	Agree	4 (12.9)	117 (78.5)	<0.001**
	Neutral	5 (16.1)	24 (16.1)
	Disagree	22 (71.0)	8 (5.4)
Which statement best describes your perception toward recorded materials	Supplement to classroom lectures	29 (93.5)	82 (55.0)	<0.001**
	Substitute to classroom lectures	2 (6.4)	67 (45.0)

Students perceived several benefits of attending classroom lectures compared to recorded materials, such as having an opportunity to ask questions, mandatory attendance allowing social interaction with their peers, and a better understanding of learning materials. The most common reasons for viewing the recorded lectures were the ability to pause to check some information, watch it at any time of the day, review the material in preparation for exams, convenience when attending lectures is not possible, less distraction compared to classroom-based lectures and facilitating a better understanding of difficult topics (Table 1).

4. DISCUSSION

The purpose of the current study was to assess the perceptions of dental students and faculty members regarding the online virtual classes and recorded lectures and to assess their opinions about utilizing such technologies as a substitute for traditional face-to-face classes.

Lecture recording is becoming increasingly popular in higher education and dental education is no exception. In the present study, the majority of students agreed (73.8% “strongly agree” and 16.1% “agree”) that lecture recording is beneficial to their learning. This in agreement with Kalludi et al., who reported that most dental students believe that viewing the video podcasts after live lectures helps them understand physiology [15]. Allen et al. found that a high percentage of dental students preferred lecture podcasts over written transcripts as learning aids [16]. Despite that the students support lecture recording, more than half the students in the current study did not want this to substitute traditional classroom lectures, which is in agreement with previously published studies [3, 26, 27]. Interestingly, more than four-fifth of the students agreed that recorded course materials serve as an adequate substitute for traditional classroom lectures. This finding suggests that students did not favor traditional classroom lectures for gaining more knowledge, but they see their value as an opportunity to ask questions or for social interactions in the classroom. Cardall et al. reported that, for medical students, the most frequent reasons behind attending classroom lectures versus viewing video-recorded lectures were lack of motivation to view recorded lectures, show professionalism, socialize with classmates, in addition to the belief that they were making most of their tuition money when attending face-to-face classes [28].

When it comes to faculty members, our study found that the majority of faculty agreed to record their lectures and believed that recorded lectures are a valuable supplement to live classroom lectures. However, they also felt that the lectures’ recording impacted students’ classroom attendance. This belief contrasts previous studies, which found that medical students’ decision to attend lectures was unrelated to lecture recordings’ availability [28, 29]. Zazulia et al. suggested that medical faculty and students perceive lecture attendance differently, i.e., faculty tends to view lecture attendance as an integral part of students’ education and professional socialization while students view it as a tool for learning course materials [29]. In the present study, there was a difference between students and faculty regarding mandating lecture attendance when lecture recordings are available. The majority of students believed that lecture attendance should be optional in contrast to the faculty’s view. This substantial difference could be attributed to generational differences. Current dental students are late Millennials or Generation Z who are labeled “Digital Natives” because they are well versed with technology; consequently, they expect its integration into their education [30]. Those digital natives prefer self-learning rather than being taught in a traditional classroom lecture [30]. On the other hand, faculty did not have access to electronic resources when they were students, thus attending classroom for them was the only way to access the learning materials. Consequently, they most likely interpret student nonattendance as a lack of commitment or interest in the course.

College students’ attendance is mandated by the Saudi Ministry of Education, and if a student’s absence rate exceeds 25% in any course, it results in suspension from the final exam. This requirement has not been updated after the introduction of digital technologies to the educational system. Although attendance in dental education is necessary to acquire laboratory and clinical skills, we think didactic materials can be delivered with more flexibility using web-based technologies. In light of the findings of our study, dental educators and institutions should consider optional lecture attendance. However, its effect on students’ academic performance should be carefully monitored.

Our study showed positive perceptions of students toward online virtual classes and viewing previously recorded lectures as an alternative to classroom attendance for didactic learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consistent with recently published studies, dental students reported general satisfaction toward the theoretical component of the courses being delivered through online virtual classes during the pandemic [31, 32]. However, it is important to remember that hands-on training is a critical component of dental education besides didactic learning. Van Doren et al. reported that students were unsatisfied with their preclinical and clinical learning that was conducted virtually during the pandemic [32]. Integrating tools in online teaching, such as videos of dental procedures, virtual case discussions, treatment plan sessions, and exercises on a typodont to improve hand skills at home, could help facilitate remote learning for the preclinical curriculum. Nevertheless, there is no remote substitute for patient treatment and one-to-one supervision to acquire clinical skills and professional behaviors in the clinical curriculum.

A question has been raised regarding the likelihood that universities will reduce their tuition fees as students’ experience in the university had been affected by shifting from face-to-face learning into merely online distance learning [33]. Thus, it is noteworthy to mention that the students in the current study are undergoing a tuition-free program supported by the government; this might explain students’ positive attitudes toward viewing previously recorded materials without interacting with the lecturer when classroom lectures need to be canceled.

The majority of faculty members felt comfortable with the technology and found it not difficult to conduct virtual classes. On the other hand, faculty members thought that both virtual classes and viewing previously recorded materials were not as effective as traditional classes. This, at least to some extent, could be attributed to the unexpected transition from physical face-to-face learning to a virtual classroom environment without a period of familiarization and adaptation. Suppose the courses were designed from the beginning to be delivered online or using the blended learning method (combined classroom with online learning). In that case, the faculty’s perception of the effectiveness of online-based learning might be different.

Our study demonstrates an overall positive perception of both students and faculty towards integrating technology in teaching of the didactic material. Despite some concerns of the faculty, virtual classes and lecture recording can be implemented more efficiently and subsequently integrated into courses that comprise the didactic component exclusively, when there is a shortage of teaching faculty, or when faculty has conflicting scheduling hours. Moreover, these technologies can be utilized in a blended-learning module that combines traditional classes with online training. For example, certain difficult topics that require special instruction could be presented in the traditional classroom, while other content could be delivered via an online route (recorded lecture or instructional videos). Also, this could potentially reduce the total number of contact hours during the training when students and faculty are required to be physically present.

One limitation of the current study is that we examined individual perceptions, i.e., subjective opinions, which do not necessarily translate into better or worse learning outcomes. A future study focusing on the learning outcomes and students’ academic performance regarding different teaching methods is needed to determine the real rather than the perceived benefits of online education. Another limitation is that our study was performed in a single dental school; thus, our findings cannot be generalized to other dental schools. Future multi-institutional studies are needed to confirm or refute the current findings.

CONCLUSION

Dental students were more accepting than faculty of remote online education (including attending online virtual classes and viewing previously recorded lectures) when physical class attendance was not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both students and faculty members found the availability of recorded-lecture materials to be a valuable learning resource. However, faculty members showed some resistance and concern in allowing students optional attendance because they believe that viewing recorded lectures cannot serve as a substitute to attending a traditional classroom. Hence, taking both students’ and faculty’s perspectives into consideration, a future blended-learning module can be implemented to properly utilize resources in order to facilitate students’ more efficient and satisfactory learning experience.

REFERENCES