The Learning Effect of Online Discussions: New Active Form of Learning under COVID-19

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 created confusion in all areas of society and is no exception in education. In line with the demands of the times, we investigated the applicability of active learning online for the health professional.Methods: This study was conducted in the school of dentistry, a selective university. Eighty-two dentistry students participated in this study in the second semester of 2020. The students were randomly assigned to four different groups and learned according to given experimental procedures. Their performance in the final test scores was analyzed using ANOVAs. Subsequently, we systematically analyzed past offline active learning and online experiments.Results: As with past offline experiments, self-study before discussion groups have achieved high learning outcomes in verbatim type and transfer type items. Online self-study groups scored slightly lower than offline self-study groups, but online self-study groups scored higher than offline and online lecture groups.Conclusions: Our findings denote that active learning for health professionals was applicable online. When self-study precedes the discussion, it becomes richer, thereby increasing students' learning outcomes.