Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial

Abstract Background The advent of electronic teaching facilities improves tutor-student communication. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of Phone-Based Audience Response System (PB-ARS), as an adjunctive pedagogy tool to enhance the retention of orthodontic information by dental students;...

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Main Authors: Fahad Alharbi, Khulud F. Alazmi, Bashar R. El Momani, Lubna Al-Muzian, Mark Wertheimer, Anas Almukhtar, Mohammed Almuzian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2020-11-01
Series:BMC Medical Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12909-020-02363-3
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spelling doaj-08a7ad2662864b1ab16ca6c1af6918f72020-11-25T04:09:12ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202020-11-012011810.1186/s12909-020-02363-3Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trialFahad Alharbi0Khulud F. Alazmi1Bashar R. El Momani2Lubna Al-Muzian3Mark Wertheimer4Anas Almukhtar5Mohammed Almuzian6Department of Preventive Dental Sciences / College of Dentistry, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz UniversityMinistry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaQueen Alia Military Hospital, Dental Corps-Orthodontics department, Royal Medical Services of Jordan Armed ForcesGlasgow Orthodontic AcademyPrivate Orthodontic PracticeCollege of Dentistry, University of MosulOrthodontist (Private clinic, UK) and Honorary Research Fellow, Edinburgh Dental Institute, University of EdinburghAbstract Background The advent of electronic teaching facilities improves tutor-student communication. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of Phone-Based Audience Response System (PB-ARS), as an adjunctive pedagogy tool to enhance the retention of orthodontic information by dental students; and to explore the students’ perception of PB-ARS. Methods This cross-over clustered randomised control trial included 34 males who were in the final year of their undergraduate dental training. Participants were allocated to one of two event groups (G1 and G2) using computer-generated randomisation. Both groups simultaneously attended two different traditional lectures (L 1 and L2) a week apart. During L1, PB-ARS was used as an adjunct to conventional presentation to teach G1 participants, (PB-ARS group) while G2’s participants acted as a control group (CG), and were taught using a traditional presentation. In the second week (L2), the interventions were crossed-over. Participants from both groups completed pre- and post-lecture multiple-choice questionnaires (MCQ) to assess their short-term retention of information. Their performance in the final MCQ exam (10 weeks following L2) was tracked to assess the long-term retention of the information. Participants also completed post-lecture questionnaires to evaluate their perceptions. Results Twenty-nine and 31 participants from the CG and PB-ARS group completed this trial, respectively. Although 87.5% of students in the PB-ARS group showed an improvement in their immediate post-lecture scores compared with 79.3% for the CG, it was statistically insignificant (p = 0.465). Similarly, the intervention showed an insignificant effect on the long-term retention of the knowledge (p = 0.560). There was a mildly but favourable attitude of students towards the use of PB-ARS. However, the difference in the overall level of satisfaction between both groups was statistically insignificant (p = 0.183). Conclusion PB-ARS has a minimal and insignificant effect on the short- and long-term retention of orthodontic knowledge by male undergraduate dental students. PB-ARS was the preferred adjunct tool to conventional classroom teaching. Due to the limitations of this trial, a long-term randomised controlled trial with a larger sample size is recommended.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12909-020-02363-3Teaching methodsMedical educationCorrective orthodonticsCurriculumDental educationDental research
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Fahad Alharbi
Khulud F. Alazmi
Bashar R. El Momani
Lubna Al-Muzian
Mark Wertheimer
Anas Almukhtar
Mohammed Almuzian
spellingShingle Fahad Alharbi
Khulud F. Alazmi
Bashar R. El Momani
Lubna Al-Muzian
Mark Wertheimer
Anas Almukhtar
Mohammed Almuzian
Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial
BMC Medical Education
Teaching methods
Medical education
Corrective orthodontics
Curriculum
Dental education
Dental research
author_facet Fahad Alharbi
Khulud F. Alazmi
Bashar R. El Momani
Lubna Al-Muzian
Mark Wertheimer
Anas Almukhtar
Mohammed Almuzian
author_sort Fahad Alharbi
title Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial
title_short Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial
title_full Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial
title_fullStr Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial
title_full_unstemmed Phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial
title_sort phone-based audience response system as an adjunct in orthodontic teaching of undergraduate dental students: a cross-over randomised controlled trial
publisher BMC
series BMC Medical Education
issn 1472-6920
publishDate 2020-11-01
description Abstract Background The advent of electronic teaching facilities improves tutor-student communication. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of Phone-Based Audience Response System (PB-ARS), as an adjunctive pedagogy tool to enhance the retention of orthodontic information by dental students; and to explore the students’ perception of PB-ARS. Methods This cross-over clustered randomised control trial included 34 males who were in the final year of their undergraduate dental training. Participants were allocated to one of two event groups (G1 and G2) using computer-generated randomisation. Both groups simultaneously attended two different traditional lectures (L 1 and L2) a week apart. During L1, PB-ARS was used as an adjunct to conventional presentation to teach G1 participants, (PB-ARS group) while G2’s participants acted as a control group (CG), and were taught using a traditional presentation. In the second week (L2), the interventions were crossed-over. Participants from both groups completed pre- and post-lecture multiple-choice questionnaires (MCQ) to assess their short-term retention of information. Their performance in the final MCQ exam (10 weeks following L2) was tracked to assess the long-term retention of the information. Participants also completed post-lecture questionnaires to evaluate their perceptions. Results Twenty-nine and 31 participants from the CG and PB-ARS group completed this trial, respectively. Although 87.5% of students in the PB-ARS group showed an improvement in their immediate post-lecture scores compared with 79.3% for the CG, it was statistically insignificant (p = 0.465). Similarly, the intervention showed an insignificant effect on the long-term retention of the knowledge (p = 0.560). There was a mildly but favourable attitude of students towards the use of PB-ARS. However, the difference in the overall level of satisfaction between both groups was statistically insignificant (p = 0.183). Conclusion PB-ARS has a minimal and insignificant effect on the short- and long-term retention of orthodontic knowledge by male undergraduate dental students. PB-ARS was the preferred adjunct tool to conventional classroom teaching. Due to the limitations of this trial, a long-term randomised controlled trial with a larger sample size is recommended.
topic Teaching methods
Medical education
Corrective orthodontics
Curriculum
Dental education
Dental research
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12909-020-02363-3
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