Ajay Telang1, Nynke De Jong2, Jan Van Dalen3. 1. Associate Professor, Department of Oral Pathology, Penang International Dental College , Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia . 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Development and Research, School of Health Professions Education, Maastricht University , Maastricht, Netherlands . 3. Director of Training and Assessment of Communication Skills, Department of Skills Lab, School of Health Professions Education, Maastricht University , Maastricht, Netherlands .
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Pathology teaching has undergone transformation with the introduction of virtual microscopy as a teaching and learning tool. AIM: To assess if dental students can identify histopathology irrespective of the media of presentation and if the media affect student's oral pathology case based learning scores. The perception of students towards "hybrid" approach in teaching and learning histopathology in oral pathology was also assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A controlled experiment was conduc-ted on year 4 and year 5 dental student groups using a perfor-mance test and a questionnaire survey. RESULTS: A response rate of 81% was noted for the performance test as well as the questionnaire survey. Results show a significant effect of media on performance of students with virtual microscopy bringing out the best performance across all student groups in case based learning scenarios. The order of preference for media was found to be virtual microscopy followed by photomicrographs and light microscopy. However, 94% of students still prefer the present hybrid system for teaching and learning of oral pathology. CONCLUSION: The study shows that identification of histo-pathology by students is dependent on media and the type of media has a significant effect on the performance. Virtual microscopy is strongly perceived as a useful tool for learning which thus brings out the best performance, however; the hybrid approach still remains the most preferred approach for histopathology learning.
INTRODUCTION: Pathology teaching has undergone transformation with the introduction of virtual microscopy as a teaching and learning tool. AIM: To assess if dental students can identify histopathology irrespective of the media of presentation and if the media affect student's oral pathology case based learning scores. The perception of students towards "hybrid" approach in teaching and learning histopathology in oral pathology was also assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A controlled experiment was conduc-ted on year 4 and year 5 dental student groups using a perfor-mance test and a questionnaire survey. RESULTS: A response rate of 81% was noted for the performance test as well as the questionnaire survey. Results show a significant effect of media on performance of students with virtual microscopy bringing out the best performance across all student groups in case based learning scenarios. The order of preference for media was found to be virtual microscopy followed by photomicrographs and light microscopy. However, 94% of students still prefer the present hybrid system for teaching and learning of oral pathology. CONCLUSION: The study shows that identification of histo-pathology by students is dependent on media and the type of media has a significant effect on the performance. Virtual microscopy is strongly perceived as a useful tool for learning which thus brings out the best performance, however; the hybrid approach still remains the most preferred approach for histopathology learning.
Keywords:
Case based learning; Oral pathology; Virtual microscopy
Authors: Jill Elizabeth Thistlethwaite; David Davies; Samilia Ekeocha; Jane M Kidd; Colin MacDougall; Paul Matthews; Judith Purkis; Diane Clay Journal: Med Teach Date: 2012 Impact factor: 3.650