Perception of undergraduate dental students toward online lectures during covid-19 lockdown period

Abstract

Aim and objective: The study aimed to assess the perception of undergraduate dental students toward online lectures during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) lockdown period. Materials and methods: A questionnaire using a 3-point Likert scale was distributed to 400 undergraduate dental students of a dental institute. The survey form distribution and data collection were done using Google Forms. The data were entered into an excel spreadsheet and analyzed using SPSS version 15. Chi-square test and Fischer’s exact test were applied to know the association of perception of undergraduate dental students toward online lectures with gender and their year of course. Results: A total of 356 students responded to the survey with a response rate of 89%. While the majority of students (77.8%) had a good experience in understanding online lectures, only 18% of students found online lectures to be more impactful than classroom lectures. Also, a statistically significant difference was found among students in a different year of the course (p = 0.04). Approximately 49% of the students with a higher number of males (69.6%) as compared to females (43.9%) felt that online lectures needed further improvement to support their learning (p = 0.001). While 58% of students preferred the inclusion of online lectures in future dental education, 76.4% of students said that they would prefer a combination of both online lectures and classroom lectures. Conclusion: Students had a positive response toward online lectures. However, based on the results, it can be concluded that the e-learning system needs further improvement to support students’ learning and it can only be considered as an adjunct to traditional classroom lectures. Clinical significance: The concept of online teaching was explored globally in view of the pandemic of COVID-19. The use of online lectures, webinars, and continuing dental education was very helpful and informative for dental students. The curriculum and teaching were possible even in lockdown, maintaining social distancing. Thus, this study helps to find out the perception and understanding of dental students toward online lectures and teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.