Personalised learning for undergraduate dental students: a pilot study

Background: The “one-size-fits-all” model in dental education has been a practice for a long time. This educational approach does not consider students’ learning preferences whereby students are subjected to teacher-centred teaching methods. The Ministry of Education, Malaysia, developed the Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015–2025 highlighting its focus on student-centred education. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the shift of focus in dental education from a teacher-centred approach to a student-centred approach. Methods: This study was conducted in the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya. The final year (Year 5) undergraduate dental students participated in the study. Their learning styles were assessed at the outset. Following this, a personalised learning module in General Dentistry was designed according to the main learning styles of the students. The class was conducted using the personalised module. A pre-test and post-test quizzes were administered to the students to assess their academic performance. Students’ feedback was also collected. Results: A total of 41 final-year dental students participated in this study. Majority of the students belonged to the processing and understanding dimensions of learning styles. Overall, 71.4% of the dental students demonstrated a learning style tendency toward sensing (perception dimension), whereas 53.1% towards visual. A quiz conducted before and after the class showed that most of the students achieved higher post-test performance. Most students gave positive feedback on the delivery of the module. Conclusion: Personalisation of learning may be able to meet students learning needs and achieve the academic goal. The use of modern technologies in a class is also recommended