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.
Tunisian Section Meeting
2017 Tunisian Section Meeting (Monastir, Tunisia) Monastir, Tunisia
2017
Behavioral, Epidemiologic, and Health Services Research