Teachers' perspective on elearning in a School of Clinical Dentistry

Objectives: Like other Departments in the ‘University of Sheffield' (U.K), the school of Clinical Dentistry is also obliged to consider ways that will enhance opportunities for independent learning and provide an integrated learning environment for widening participation. In response to this, the school is committed to prioritise IT related developments (e.g. E-learning). Recent studies have shown that the successful implementation of E-learning technologies depends largely on the attitudes of teachers, who eventually determine how they are used in the classroom or laboratories. This paper presents findings from a study investigating the teachers' attitude and perception towards E-learning technologies and thus identifying critical factors that motivate or inhibit the teachers to incorporate these technologies into their teaching strategies.

Methods: Data collection involved interviews and questionnaire surveys of teachers who teach online courses and those who teach on a traditional basis. The research sample was a cohort of the teachers at the school of clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield. This study was a part of an action research cycle of an ongoing research.

Results: The study identifies that the extra amount of time required for developing online materials, the fear of workload (pre and post-course engagement) being increased and the lack of instructional and technical support from the institution are the major hindrances to E-learning.

Conclusion:It is recommended to the administration services to provide some kind of support services to the teachers in the form of extra support staff, expert systems or more equipments and appropriate training. A strong relationship between age groups and their affinity towards a teaching mode (E-learning, blended or traditional classroom based learning) has also been found. This study is limited in terms of the sample size and therefore a further investigation is required at the regional and national level to ratify the findings.