Dental undergraduate students’ perspectives of online assessments conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic – a report from one South African university

Abstract

IntroductionOnline assessments are commonly used in health sciences curricula worldwide. However, it is unclear on how undergraduate dental therapy and oral hygiene students at a South African university responded to the transition from traditional classroom-based to online assessments, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Aims and objectivesThis paper reports on students’ knowledge and practices of,attitudes towards and preparedness for online assessments.MethodThis was a descriptive study, using a mixed methodsapproach to obtain quantitative and qualitative data through an online questionnaire.ResultsThis study indicated most students (n=93, 87%) were familiar with online assessments; however, only (n=68, 63.5%) were confident about taking these tests. Most students agreed that online assessment helped them grasp all aspects of theory, while less than half of third-year students agreed that online assessments helped them to integrate theory into clinical practice. The reported challenges were connectivity problems with online assessment and insufficient time to complete online tests. ConclusionThis study demonstrated that undergraduate dental students were familiar with online assessments and were confident about taking them. They believed this helped them grasp all aspects of theory despite specific challenges associated with the use of online assessments. This study suggests that online assessments could be a valuable method in measuring student com