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

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.

Challenges and Opportunities for Dental Education from COVID-19

“…However, distance PBL is not a reliable tool to facilitate kinaesthetic learning, because it does not allow hands-on practice. Clinical training is one of the big problems of distance education, therefore, interactive tools were strongly suggested by dental students [ 45 ] ( Table 1 ).…”

Source Credibility and the Information Quality Matter in Public Engagement on Social Networking Sites During the COVID-19 Crisis

“…In the last month of the year 2019, a new type of disease, officially named by WHO as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was reported by the Chinese health authorities, raising momentous concerns among the global health experts and governments ( Simione and Gnagnarella, 2020 ; Hassan et al, 2022 ). This mystery disease, now known to be caused by the new type of virus identified as “2019 novel coronavirus” (COVID-19), was first reported in the populous city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, China, and is declared to be of zoonotic (an infection that comes from animals) origin ( Li et al, 2020 ; Holmes et al, 2021 ).…”

Experience of Bangladeshi Dental Students towards Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…Both dental students and educators have experienced challenges in pre-clinical and clinical dental education. These challenges have ranged from the fully online educational content to the limited opportunities for clinical dental training with patients for advanced final-year dental students [30]. One Serbian study reported that sudden and unintentional changes in teaching methods during lockdown and the restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 significantly hampered the self-confidence of final-year dental students [31].…”