Dental students’ education in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: from reality to virtuality: lessons to be learnt. (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rola Alhabshneh ◽  
Anas Alibrahim ◽  
Tahani Abu-Alteen ◽  
Wiam Hamadah ◽  
Yousef Khader

BACKGROUND The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a major public health challenge for many countries around the world. The global lockdown of educational institutions is going to cause major disruption to students’ learning and cancellation of their yearly assessments. Dental students are particularly at risk, due to the possibility of aerosols produced in many dental procedures that were suggested as a way of transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Shifting to online learning is needed in this era. OBJECTIVE This article aims to review the online learning experience, the effectiveness of tele-dentistry and the importance of implementing dental virtual simulation in preclinical and clinical courses during pandemics. Some suggestions are also provided to widen communication and creativity in the education system. The limitations of online learning and suggested solutions are also discussed. METHODS Two independent investigators conducted an electronic comprehensive search of PubMed/MEDLINE for articles published between 2000 and 2020, using the following search terms: “online education”; “Tele-dentistry”; “Education during pandemics”; “Virtual dentistry”; “COVID-19 reshaping education”; and “Dental E-learning.” Studies were selected and classified as included or excluded based on the title and abstract of the articles by the 2 researchers, working independently. Articles included were published in English, related to dentistry and online education. Articles excluded were not published in English or related to conventional education. It was not possible to analyze included articles, therefore we decided to do narrative review only. Authors’ points of view and suggestions were also added to shed light on the online learning experience and understand its quality and effectiveness during pandemics. RESULTS : from 150 articles reviewed, only 30 articles were found to qualify for inclusion. All included articles discussed online education based on experience of authors and provided some suggestions so that online learning experience becomes more effective. All included articles found that online education is a useful tool to be invested at times of pandemics and that it needs to be empowered and improved by schools and universities. CONCLUSIONS Being successful in riding the wave will take dental learning and teaching into a new era. In the future, every dean and faculty member will understand that online education is not only a potential source for new revenue. Instead, online education will be recognized as an essential core to every educational plan for institutional resilience and academic continuity. CLINICALTRIAL None

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rola Alhabshneh Sr ◽  
Anas Alibrahim ◽  
Anas Alibrahim ◽  
Tahani Alteen ◽  
Wiam Hamadah ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Background: The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a major public health challenge for many countries around the world. The global lockdown of educational institutions is going to cause major disruption to students’ learning and cancellation of their yearly assessments. Dental students are particularly at risk, due to the possibility of aerosols produced in many dental procedures that were suggested as a way of transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Shifting to online learning is needed in this era. OBJECTIVE This article aims to review the online learning experience, the effectiveness of tele-dentistry and the importance of implementing dental virtual simulation in preclinical and clinical courses during pandemics. Some suggestions are also provided to widen communication and creativity in the education system. The limitations of online learning and suggested solutions are also discussed. METHODS Two independent investigators conducted an electronic comprehensive search of PubMed/MEDLINE for articles published between 2000 and 2020, using the following search terms: “online education”; “Tele-dentistry”; “Education during pandemics”; “Virtual dentistry”; “COVID-19 reshaping education”; and “Dental E-learning.” Studies were selected and classified as included or excluded based on the title and abstract of the articles by the 2 researchers, working independently. Articles included were published in English, related to dentistry and online education. Articles excluded were not published in English or related to conventional education. It was not possible to analyze included articles, therefore we decided to do narrative review only. Authors’ points of view and suggestions were also added to shed light on the online learning experience and understand its quality and effectiveness during pandemics. RESULTS from 150 articles reviewed, only 30 articles were found to qualify for inclusion. All included articles discussed online education based on experience of authors and provided some suggestions so that online learning experience becomes more effective. All included articles found that online education is a useful tool to be invested at times of pandemics and that it needs to be empowered and improved by schools and universities. CONCLUSIONS Being successful in riding the wave will take dental learning and teaching into a new era. In the future, every dean and faculty member will understand that online education is not only a potential source for new revenue. Instead, online education will be recognized as an essential core to every educational plan for institutional resilience and academic continuity.


Author(s):  
Azwar Rahmat ◽  
Abdul Wahab Syakhrani ◽  
Erwinsyah Satria

This paper discusses online learning in the digital era by reviewing various international publications. This study is interesting given the growth of schools offering online education. This trend continues to develop, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, which caused all social activities to stop. For that reason, we are interested in discussing online learning strategies, enriching the learning experience. Our analytical process involves coding, evaluation, and in-depth interpretation to obtain valid and reliable findings. We conducted data searches with the help of electronic searches on the Google Scholar app, ERIC publications, and Academic Microsoft between 2015 and publication in 2021. As a result, online educational activities have won a place in the hearts of students and teachers, which occur automatically through website technology. More specifically, this is called "e-learning." This is a promising distance learning that has become a trend for students and scientists and has become a way for people to get information about their needs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (S1-Feb) ◽  
pp. 73-78
Author(s):  
Khazi Mohammed Owais ◽  
Anjali Atipamula

This study is aimed to seek online feedback and conduct phonic interviews of Management students in B-Schools regarding their experience with E-learning methods used by their faculty and institutes. COVID-19 has turned the world into an unrecognizable and unthinkable setting. Various sectors have come together to battle this pandemic. Work from home (WFH) has become a norm and, so has studying from home. The purpose of this study is to understand the technology adoption, teaching and learning process, student engagement, and experience towards virtual classrooms during Lockdown due to COVID 19 in Business schools in Electronic City, Bangalore. This study uses inductive reasoning and qualitative research methodology to collect the data from the students of B-Schools who are currently pursuing courses such as PGDM, M.B.A, M.Com, M.C.A, etc. The students are currently in their hometowns across India and attending classes through various online platforms. The focus of this study is to find out the impact of online education on Learning Aspect and Student Engagement during this period. This study also emphasizes on how the current scenario has an impact on policymakers like educationalists, students, and the adoption of technique by faculty in the future. An indistinct study is done on the tactics and strategies that would be implemented in the ongoing pandemic. The current study is limited to the sample frame of around 300 students from business schools in Electronic City, Bangalore, India. Hence, the findings of this study cannot be generalized forentire India. Even though COVID 19 has created cognitive dissonance in students’ and faculties’ minds towards various situations they have faced in their day-to-day life. The learning and teaching have not stopped and are continuing at a fast pace and without any disruption.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 2157-2160
Author(s):  
Chin-Yen Alice Liu

In the era of theInternet, most educators have been supported by powerful tools ranging from e-books and e-learning sites to cloud services, and students’ learning environment has been a mix between traditional study (in class) and e-learning through some kind of online learning platform. Due to the uncertainty of the rapidly changing COVID-19 situation, all colleges and universities have to shutter their physical campuses and move their courses to remote and online formats hastily. This prompted many to wonder if all of the faculty are ready and qualified to teach online courses and/or if all of the students are ready to learn in the comprehensive online environment. If not, what ultimate impact will be to our higher education during this national emergency virus pandemic since there is no choice but depend on where they sit currently, not to mention the negative reviews and concerns regarding the online education. To make this transfer seamlessly and conflict mitigation, this paper applied systems thinking for an e-Learning course and proposed a flexible grading method for an e-learning environment, which will enhance students’ grades by allowing students to control their own study paces and the amount of efforts spent in the course, which can bring a successful online learning experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Kamysbayeva ◽  
Alexey Koryakov ◽  
Natalya Garnova ◽  
Sergey Glushkov ◽  
Svetlana Klimenkova

PurposeThe COVID-19 crisis experience is shaping new guidelines for learning activities that need to be developed from an interdisciplinary and holistic perspective based on the analysis and assessment of potential impacts and social expectations.Design/methodology/approachThe research is devoted to the study of modern e-learning challenges in the context of social distance, the analysis of learning experience, problems and opportunities associated with online learning. The research was carried out at the “Blinded for peer review” and involved 300 graduate students. A qualitative method based on a two-step process was used in the study. The discussion allowed participants to discuss and compare personal learning experiences primarily related to the COVID-19 crisis.FindingsThe results of the study demonstrated that online learning is an efficient tool for the development of hard skills while being less effective for the improvement of soft skills; they also allowed us to identify important aspects of professional personnel training which should be taken into account while developing a strategy for harmonizing on-campus and online education with the diversification of curricula by various pedagogical technologies and digital tools, as well as bringing social interactions into classroom activities.Originality/valueDue to the fact that most study participants were technical and economic students, it was concluded that the e-learning format is an effective methodology for the development of technical and digital skills of students.


The research is devoted to the study of modern e-learning challenges in the context of social distance, the analysis of learning experience, problems and opportunities associated with online learning. The research was carried out at the ‘Blinded for peer review’ and involved 300 graduate students. A qualitative method based on a two-step process was used in the study. The online learning challenges and opportunities were analyzed with due regard to pedagogical, social, and technological aspects. The results of the study demonstrated that online learning is an efficient tool for the development of Hard Skills while being less effective for the improvement of Soft Skills; they also allowed us to identify important aspects of professional personnel training which should be taken into account while developing a strategy for harmonizing on-campus and online education with the diversification of curricula by various pedagogical technologies and digital tools, as well as bringing social interactions into classroom activities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 5537-5542

As to promote and develop STEM education in Malaysia, various approaches have been taken, including improving the curriculum of secondary school by enhancing the contents of the Technology subjects. In this paper, we are concentrating on the issues raised in learning and teaching the computer science subject specifically in supporting the students to understand the syllabus. We propose an interactive online learning application (Code Pocket) using Waterfall model to assist students in learning the subject and enables teachers to monitor the performance of the students. Code Pocket is a web-based application which acts as e-learning platform that consists of many modules such as notes, quiz and reporting. A dashboard menu panel is provided to enable easy navigation. This application provides alternative learning and teaching mechanisms by providing flexible learning environment that promotes online and mobile learning which can be accessed at anytime and anywhere. With interactive features, the learning experience will be better and interesting.


Author(s):  
Maria Pavlis Korres

Interaction is at the heart of the online learning experience. Theorists consider interaction a defining characteristic of education and regard it as vitally important in the design of e-learning courses. Interaction is a significant component in promoting learners' positive attitudes towards online education and affects their educational performance. This chapter examines the various ways an e-learning environment can promote interaction among participants by using the appropriate communication tools. It presents the results of a pilot e-learning course, confirming that different types of interaction can be promoted at a high level in an online environment and will contribute effectively to the achievement of the learning objectives.


Author(s):  
Michelle Jean Eady ◽  
Stuart Woodcock ◽  
Ashley Sisco

<p class="3">As e-learning maintains its popularity worldwide, and university enrolments continue to rise, online tertiary level coursework is increasingly being designed for groups of distributed learners, as opposed to individual students. Many institutions struggle with incorporating all facets of online learning and teaching capabilities with the range and variety of software tools available to them. This study used the EPEC Hierarchy of Conditions (ease of use, psychologically safe environment, e-learning self-efficacy, and competence) for E-Learning/E-Teaching Competence (Version II) to investigate the effectiveness of an online synchronous platform to train pre-service teachers studying in groups at multiple distance locations called satellite campuses. The study included 58 pre-service teachers: 14 who were online using individual computers and 44 joining online, sitting physically together in groups, at various locations. Students completed a survey at the conclusion of the coursework and data were analyzed using a mixed methods approach.</p><p class="3">This study’s findings support the EPEC model applied in this context, which holds that success with e-learning and e-teaching is dependent on four preconditions: 1) ease of use, 2) psychologically safe environment, 3) e-learning self-efficacy, and 4) competency. However, the results also suggest two other factors that impact the success of the online learning experience when working with various sized groups. The study demonstrates that the effectiveness of a multi-location group model may not be dependent only on the EPEC preconditions but also the effectiveness of the instructor support present and the appropriateness of the tool being implemented. This has led to the revised EPEC Hierarchy of Conditions for E-Learning/E-Teaching Competence (Version III).</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlina Mohamad ◽  

E-learning applications or online learning is a very broad topic. This article discusses best practices in designing online learning to provide the best learning experience to students. Recently too many e-learning applications have been produced to help the learning process to be easily accessible anytime and anywhere. Students are so excited because access to learning materials is no longer limited to printed materials. The results of studies on the effectiveness of online learning show inconsistent findings. This is because most of the applications developed do not emphasize effective design. If applications are developed without considering the design principles of an effective e-learning application, it is impossible to provide a meaningful learning experience to students. So, these best practices have been gathered through analytical documents from books, journal articles and successful e-learning developers to help designers and developers of e-learning applications to produce effective applications. There are three main things that need to be emphasized in the design of e-learning applications, namely interface design, content design and interaction design. In interface design, among the things that are evaluated is how to produce an interface that can use the cognitive load effectively. Meanwhile, for content design, what is the appropriate learning and teaching theory to be applied so that the learning experience becomes something meaningful. For interaction design, it is important for the behavior of an application to be predictable and usable. Good interaction design shows features such as easy to use, efficient, safe, easy to learn and easy to remember how to use it. In this article, best practices for designing according to these three aspects will be discussed. Although these best practices are still not comprehensive, they can help learning application developers, teachers, instructors, lecturers, or trainers to be able to provide online learning materials and design e-learning interesting applications effectively.


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