Methods: Data were collected from a discussion archive offered through the E-course website of the School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham, UK in 2008. A multi-component metric, comprising of 5 dimensions, was created and included; participation, social learning, cognitive processing, role of instructors, and quality of discussion. The specific variables used to evaluate these dimensions were; thread's length, number of messages, number of words, author level, response time, message level, message clarity, primary purpose, use of external resources, student's interaction level, content type, knowledge type, processing level and resolution of discussion threads. Data were analyzed using content analysis method and a complete message as the unit of analysis.
Results: A total of 108 threads consisting of 330 messages were posted by both undergraduate dental students and instructors with no significant participation difference (p<0.05). Social interaction with peers appeared only through students posting messages with open questions (27/135 messages). Discussion board was mainly used by students to understand concepts (27/102 messages) and apply procedural knowledge (17/102 messages). Instructors were mainly replying to students' messages with (49/120 messages) or without (54/120 messages) proposing another action. The quality of discussion was mostly clear (315/330 messages), with course-related information (261/330 messages). All threads (100%) were student initiated and discussion issues were mostly completely resolved (84/108 threads).
Conclusions: The online discussion board was found to be a successful pedagogical tool augmenting face-to-face teaching in dental education. Further development of instructor-led discussion approach is needed to insure higher level and collaborative thinking.