Evaluation of Third-Year Dental Students’ Attitudes towards Microbiology Teaching.

Objectives:
Teaching evaluation methods are widely used in European and American countries and are lacking in Tunisia.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate third-year dental students’ attitudes towards microbiology teaching over a 4-year period.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was carried out from 2009 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2015. An overall number of 806 students was included. Closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires were administered after psychometric tests analysis. The following constructs were evaluated: Students’ lecture absenteeism, tutorials’ quality and teaching and learning methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0. The significance level was set at p<0.05.
Results:
Students’ absenteeism represented 64% (year09-10) and 73.3% (year10-11). The main causal factors were the absence of interactivity (50%), the mandatoriness nature of the lecture (up to 41.3%) and the tight schedule (up to 35%) (p>0.05). Respondents were very satisfied by the form and content of the microbiology handout and slides presentation in 72.4% and 65.3%, respectively. Introduction of new active methods of learning in microbiology tutorials were very appreciated by students (p<0.000). Up to 96% of participants were strongly agree that teaching methods and learning should be modified. Consistency in students’ attitudes towards teaching was observed over the years (p>0.05).
Conclusions: The results reveal that new methods of teaching and learning should be implemented in the Dental Faculty of Monastir.