UTHealth HSC Houston School of Dentistry Houston, Texas, United States
Presenter: Neha Parikh, Ph.D. – UTHealth HSC Houston School of Dentistry Author: Dharini van der Hoeven, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, UTHealth HSC Houston School of Dentistry Submitter: Dane C. Risinger – UTHealth HSC Houston School of Dentistry
Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyze DS1-DS4 students’ feedback of the synchronous teaching of a traditional Human Biology didactic course and a case-based learning Clinical Applications II course.
Methods: Dental students across all four years at the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston (UTSD) were surveyed (n=229). Their responses to six questions pertaining to their experiences in synchronous teaching were recorded and interpreted.
Results: Student response rate for the survey was 55% (229/420). Of the students surveyed, more than 79% of students agreed/strongly agreed that the Human Biology course helped them understand the biomedical science background related to clinical cases in the Clinical Applications II course, and vice versa (p < 0.001). Additional feedback followed a similar trend with the majority of students (77%, 68% and 62% respectively) agreeing that synchronous teaching kept them engaged, motivated, and better prepared for clinical practice (P < 0.001). Of the students surveyed, 69% support expanding synchronous teaching to all four years (P < 0.001). Qualitative data was also analyzed for questions relating to what students liked about the courses and what could be improved. Generally, students enjoyed the reinforcement of concepts taught in two courses at the same time and how to apply didactic information to a clinical scenario. Feedback for improvement included expanding the course to be included in all four years and details about how to better assess student’s performance.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that synchronous teaching of didactic and case-based learning courses is a plausible and effective way to educate dental students. Overall, students at UTSD responded positively to their experience in synchronous teaching of the DS1 biomedical science and clinical case-based courses and support its expansion in the curriculum. acquired.
