Graduates’ Perceived Preparedness for Dental Practice from PBL and Traditional Curricula

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare dental graduates' perceived preparedness for practice after being educated in a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum with those who graduated from a traditional undergraduate curriculum, both at the University of Hong Kong. A cohort of graduates from the traditional dental curriculum (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001) and a cohort of graduates from the PBL curriculum (2004-08) rated their self-perceived preparedness for dental practice in ifty-nine aspects of dentistry across nine domains. Perceived preparedness for dental practice was compared at domain and item levels (accounting for multiple comparisons) using chi-square statistics. Both cohorts felt well prepared for the "bread and butter" aspects of dentistry, but less so for speciic specialty disciplines. There was no signiicant difference between PBL and traditional graduates' self-perceived preparedness in eight of the nine domains of dental practice (P>0.05). However, in the area of orthodontics, both cohorts felt ill-prepared for practice and more so among the PBL cohort (P<0.01). For the most part, regardless of curriculum design, these dental graduates perceived themselves to be well prepared for dental practice.

Follow-up assessment of problem-based learning in dental alveolar surgery education: a pilot trial

“…Thus, these findings indicate that PBL may improve the students’ communication competencies. These results were consistent with the findings of other studies. The benefits of improving communicative willingness in PBL may result from the greater opportunities for discussion, presentation and active learning.…”

“…Most of the dental school curriculum is well integrated across various disciplines. To some extent, the study of oral and maxillofacial surgery is a postgraduate field or area of professional training.…”

The Triple Jump in Problem-Based Learning: Unpacking Principles and Practices in Designing Assessment for Curriculum Alignment

“…The PBL model for this dental program had been described in other articles (see Bridges, Green, Botelho, & Tsang, 2014;Bridges et al, 2016;Bridges, Wyatt-Smith, & Botelho, 2017;McGrath, Comfort, Lou, Samaranayake, & Clark, 2006;Yiu et al, 2011;Yiu et al, 2012). As illustrated in Figure 1, in Tutorial 1 (first phase), a trained tutor facilitates a group discussion to generate hypotheses, identify learning issues, and discuss learning resources from their analysis of the presented problem based on their prior knowledge.…”

O uso da aprendizagem baseada em problemas na Odontologia: uma revisão crítica da literatura

“…Com isso, pode-se concluir que a PBL não influenciou na melhoria da aprendizagem ao longo da vida, variáveis demográficas e profissionais parecem ser mais importantes do que o tipo de currículo 21 . Resultados semelhantes foram encontrados por Yiu et al 26 , sem diferenças no conhecimento clínico entre os alunos formados na Universidade de Hong Kong com um currículo tradicional (1997-2001) e com PBL (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008).…”