Comparison of the effectiveness of problem-based education and offline virtual education in the course of dental considerations of systemic patients

Abstract

Background: Educational methods should always be active and flexible. Considering that communication technologies have caused a change in the structure of higher education, the present study was conducted with the aim of the comparison of virtual problem based learning and offline training in the dental considerations for systemic patients.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all students of Tabriz Dental Faculty who had taken the 3rd Systemic Diseases course were included in the study as a census and were randomly divided into two groups. First, a pre-test was taken from all students. Then, in the first group, the teaching of parts related to systemic patients (high blood pressure) was done by problem-based learning. The second group was taught the same topic in a virtual offline way. Then, in the next step, the diabetes topic was provided to the student in the first group and the second group received training in the form of problem based method. The comparison between two groups was done in three sections of demographic information, performance evaluation based on grades (learning educational goals) and students' attitudes towards their success in learning using a questionnaire. Data analysis was done with spss24 software and statistical covariance tests to compare the scores of two groups before and after training, and t-test and ANOVA variance analysis to compare scores based on demographic characteristics. Results: In the course of systemic diseases 3, the effect of the problem-based learning for the topic of blood pressure was similar to the offline method, and in the topic of diabetes, it was more than the offline method. Students' attitude score with an average of 26.88± 6.06, had a relatively positive attitude towards learning success. One of the factors influencing students' attitudes was gender. employment, status and marital status, residence, and access to computers had no effect on students' attitudes. Conclusion: Virtual trainings can be used in teaching dental considerations for systemic patients.