Dental students' ability to judge the quality of composite restorations' exemplars depicted in photographs and their impact on preclinical skills.

INTRODUCTION: Assessing exemplars as a formative activity is thought to promote students' learning. This study aimed to investigate dental students' ability to judge the quality of composite restorations' exemplars depicted in photographs and their impact on students' preclinical skills. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a non-randomised controlled crossover trial with two intervention arms, 92 undergraduates in their first preclinical course self-enrolled in into the intervention group (A1-INT) or control group (B1-CT). The intervention group assessed photographic images of composite restorations before restoring an ivorine premolar with composite while the control group restored the same tooth without assessing the photographic exemplars. Intervention and control groups were swapped 3 days later in a second iteration (B2-INT, A2-CT). Data were analysed in SPSS® version 27 using nonparametric tests. RESULTS: Students who did not complete all activities in the study were excluded. Therefore, 57 out of the 92 student participants were included in the study analysis. No significant differences were observed between intervention and control groups' ability to assess quality of photographic exemplars or restoring a tooth in both iterations. CONCLUSION: Students were able to identify the quality of composite restorations in photographic exemplars. It appears that assessing photographic exemplars did not have an immediate impact on students' ability to restore a tooth with composite.

A systematic review of methodology for the creation of virtual 3D models for use in dental education and a narrative review.

OBJECTIVES: Virtual Reality (VR) technologies can be used as a content-delivery system for the purposes of both entertainment and education. Remote and digital education has become ever so important in a world where global disruptive events such as pandemics and natural disasters can define access to a face-to-face learning environment. An important aspect of VR technologies for dentistry is the creation of digital 3D models. The primary of this review was to answer the focused research question, "What software techniques are used in the creation of digital 3D models for use in dental education." METHODS: This study systematically evaluates current software and techniques used for creating digital 3D models in dental education using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRIMSA). RESULTS: The search strategies did not find any studies specific to the creation of dental-related 3D models. Therefore, this study for the first time provided an overview of common techniques of 3D model fabrication is discussed. Further some examples of methods of creating 3D models relevant to dentistry such armamentarium and anatomical oral structures have been discussed in considerable detail. CONCLUSION: The creation of 3D modelling is a rapidly evolving field with software updates and new programs being continually released. This work highlights fundamental lack of published work in the creation of 3D dental models for educational applications.

A novel scale to measure students' perceptions of exemplars in a dental school.

INTRODUCTION: Exemplars are an effective strategy for initial cognitive and psychomotor skill acquisition and promoting students' self-regulation. Yet, there is limited evidence about students' use and perception of exemplars in dental education. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a scale to measure students' perception of exemplars in an Australian dental school. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Phase I assessed the relevant literature and students' responses to an interview. Four themes were identified for developing a 19-item questionnaire rated by an expert panel. Phase II piloted the questionnaire amongst a group of 30 students. Phase III analysed psychometric and qualitative open-ended questions data obtained from a large group of students. RESULTS: The principal axis factoring resulted in one single factor that explained over 62% of the variance and had an alpha of .88. The number of questions was reduced from 19 to 6 items with loadings of 0.72 or above for each item. Students reported exemplars are beneficial for their learning and to visually guide them to understand procedures and their intended outcomes. This prompts them to think and mentally prepare before performing. Students further reported using exemplars provided by their courses almost as often as exemplars they search in social media. CONCLUSION: Well-developed exemplars could play a key role in enhancing learning and could assist teaching. Understanding students' use and perception of exemplars will help educators to develop and evaluate appealing exemplars. Therefore, this study developed a new instrument to measure students' perception of exemplars, verified its reliability and validity.

A systematic literature review of assessment feedback in preclinical dental education.

INTRODUCTION: Development of evaluative judgement abilities through assessment and feedback strategies is crucial in students' progress to become self-regulated lifelong learners. Dentists' ability to appraise the quality of treatment provided to their patients starts with development of competences in a simulated preclinical training environment. However, the effectiveness of these assessment and feedback strategies is not well understood. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This literature review aimed to identify the assessment and feedback interventions and their effect on dental students' appraisal and psychomotor skills during preclinical training. A search of the electronic databases PubMed, Ebscohost (Dentistry and Oral Health), Scopus, Web of Science and EMBASE was conducted of studies published until October 2019. RESULTS: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. Two studies were randomised controlled trials and ten non-randomised studies. All studies included students' self-assessment and grading criteria as part of their feedback interventions. Feedback utilisation training was reported in 66% of the included studies. Evidence suggests feedback strategies improve psychomotor skills and increase agreement between students' and teachers' awarded grades. However, these improvements vary with the complexity of the task. Only one study shows self-directed learning significantly contributing to students' psychomotor skill improvement. CONCLUSION: Although assessment and feedback are regarded as crucial for developing students' evaluative judgement capabilities to become self-regulated lifelong learners, there is limited empirical evidence of the assessment and feedback conditions that enhance students' judgement abilities, performance and self-regulation. Further research is needed to investigate and compare the effect of different assessment and feedback interventions on students' appraisal skills, their impact on learning and self-regulation.

Investigating the use of smartphones for learning purposes by Australian dental students.

BACKGROUND: Mobile Internet devices and smartphones have at present a significant potential as learning tools and the development of educational interventions based on smartphones have attracted increasing attention. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to obtain a deeper insight in the nature of students' use of smartphones, as well as their attitudes towards educational use of mobile devices in order to design successful teaching interventions. METHOD: A questionnaire was designed, aiming to investigate the actual daily habitual use, as well as the attitudes of dental students towards smartphones for their university education purposes. The survey was used to collect data from 232 dental students. RESULTS: Of the 232 respondents, 204 (87.9%) owned a smartphone, and 191 (82.3%) had access to third generation (3G) mobile carriers. The most popular devices were the iPhone and Android. Most of the respondents had intermediate smartphone skills and used smartphones for a number of learning activities. Only 75/232 (32.3%) had specific educational applications installed, while 148/232 (63.7%) used smartphones to access to social media and found it valuable for their education (P<.05). Students accessing social media with their smartphones also showed significantly more advanced skills with smartphones than those who did not (P<.05). There was no significant association between age group, gender, origin, and smartphone skills. There was positive correlation between smartphone skills and students' attitudes toward improving access to learning material (r=.43, P<.05), helping to learn more independently (r=.44, P<.05), and use of smartphones by teaching staff (r=.45, P<.05). CONCLUSION: The results in this study suggest that students use smartphones and social media for their education even though this technology has not been formally included in the curriculum. This might present an opportunity for educators to design educational methods, activities, and material that are suitable for smartphones and allow students to use this technology, thereby accommodating students' current diverse learning approaches.

Dental students' attitudes toward the design of a computer-based treatment planning tool.

The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate the attitudes of a cohort of fourth- and fifth-year dental students (n=53) at Griffith University in Australia to a proposed computer-based Case Study and Treatment Planning (CSTP) tool. The tool would allow students to work through the process of comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment planning for patients in a structured and logical manner. A questionnaire was designed to investigate the students' perceived needs, attitudes, and factors deemed to be important in the design of such a tool. Students responded on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The survey was supplemented by two focus groups, one of fourth-year and one of fifth-year students. The survey results indicated strong agreement that there is a need for such a tool (fourth-year mean=6.24; fifth-year mean=5.75) and the likelihood that it would be used after hours and for extra treatment planning practice (fourth-year mean=5.82; fifth-year mean=5.45). The themes that emerged from the focus groups revealed students' agreement that a CSTP tool would be beneficial both for training and for faculty assessment of students' treatment planning skills. The type of concerns raised included whether a rigid treatment planning template might hamper the flexibility needed to deal with complex patient cases. Additionally, there was some concern that students' personal interaction with tutors would be reduced if this mode of computer-based treatment planning were to be used exclusively. In conclusion, the overall attitude of dental students was positive towards a CSTP tool. This study's findings provide guidance as to how such software could be developed and which features to include.