Web‐based interactive learning programs for dentistry concept and its evaluation

The change in pedagogy relates partly to the development of electronic media and communication possibilities that are available in networked environments. This new technology dominates and supports the international educational content and learning. The aim of our study was to evaluate this progress in dental edu­cation. The education was compared parallel in two groups of Czech and international students. Groups and teaching hours were in the fourth year of the MD curriculum. Stomatology course materials were prepared and published on the portals of the individual dental study programs (http://dl.cuni.cz). The lectures had different access levels, ranging from materials that were freely available to all International WEB dental faculties’ sources to materials that were accessible only after receiving permission from the authors. A number of software tools were used for the creation of ­e-learning courses, such as, e.g., WebCT, Blackboard, Adobe Connect or Microsoft Class Server. The 291 students who were included in our study were divided into two groups according to the ­e-learning program. The goal of our study was to check student activities during the educational process, namely online work – lessons, articles, videos, lite­rature, quizzes and direct Internet access. The statisticaly significant differences were found in the results of the questionnaire based on five-point Likert scale. The Mann Whitney non-parametric test was used to evaluate students’ activities during the edu­cation process. The ­e-learning course had a direct influence on learning experiences, dental information, opinions and comments. Our results verified that satisfaction is an important and influential factor in determining whether a student decides to choose a dentistry and maxillofacial surgery course. Students prefer to have more time for practical therapy in the clinic. It was demonstrated that examination results did not correspond to the type of education but it was confirmed that e-learning helped to prepare students for practical training