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 Table of Contents  
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2018  |  Volume : 8  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 87-93

Use and application of computer and internet in dental education among students of Nagpur city


1 VSPM Dental College and Research Centre, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
2 Department of Prosthodontics, VSPM Dental College and Research Centre, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
3 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Swargiya Dadasaheb Kalmegh Smruti Dental College and Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
4 Department of Prosthodontics, Government Dental College and Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Date of Web Publication31-Dec-2018

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Anita Rama Kahar
Hansapuri Jyotinagar Khadan, Near Durga Devi Temple, Nagpur, Maharashtra
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/ijmd.ijmd_40_18

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  Abstract 


Background: Computer and Internet has currently become most easily accessible vehicle for extracting and viewing the data to everybody. Each folk carry the Internet in our hand and use it in just one finger bit. In dental education, additional use of computer and Internet is not a story of happening once and whereas, it is a routine procedure. The computers and Internet is employed for teaching and learning purpose. For the students, the Internet is currently one in every of the foremost necessary sources of data for looking and resolving the queries in academics beneath the steering of revered colleges. Hence, we decided do conduct such study in three dental institutes of our Nagpur city.
Aim: Assessment of computer and Internet use and its application in dental education among the dental students of three dental institutes of Nagpur city.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was undertaken among the first to final BDS students of three dental colleges of Nagpur city.
Results: One hundred and twenty (16.12%) of the participants use the Internet for searching information in dentistry. Three hundred and eighty-five (51.74%) of them use Internet for searching textbooks, videos, and literature. Three hundred and two (40.59%) of them prefer to read text from a book than computer.
Conclusion: Majority of the dental students use computer and Internet for their studies. At the identical time students were not a lot aware of e-books. They conjointly preferred to read text from a book. The preclinical year student's angle toward the use of computer and Internet was found to be more than clinical year students.

Keywords: Computer; Internet; dental education; dental students; Nagpur city


How to cite this article:
Agrawal S, Kahar AR, Radke U, Pandagale S, Agrawal P, Joshi J. Use and application of computer and internet in dental education among students of Nagpur city. Indian J Multidiscip Dent 2018;8:87-93

How to cite this URL:
Agrawal S, Kahar AR, Radke U, Pandagale S, Agrawal P, Joshi J. Use and application of computer and internet in dental education among students of Nagpur city. Indian J Multidiscip Dent [serial online] 2018 [cited 2024 Mar 29];8:87-93. Available from: https://www.ijmdent.com/text.asp?2018/8/2/87/249123




  Introduction Top


In this era of technology, computer and Internet has currently become most easily accessible vehicle for extracting and viewing the data to everybody. Each folks carry the Internet in our hand and use it in just one finger bit. In dental education additionally use of computer and Internet is not a story of happening once and whereas, it is a routine procedure. The computers and Internet is employed for teaching and learning purpose. For the students, Internet is currently one in every of the foremost necessary sources of data for looking at and resolving the queries in academics beneath the steering of revered colleges. Its usage should use in smarter approach. The use of computer and internet under the guidance of faculties can be used as an honest and great tool for the education purpose.

Information and communication technology is an increasingly important tool in dental education.[1] Internet sites containing clinical, histopathological, and radiographic data create an environment for students to study at their own pace.[2] Online learning is becoming a recognized method for delivering educational content throughout dental schools in Northern America.[3],[4],[5],[6] Students can have the opportunity to learn about different views on controversial topics, review extensive case reports, and gain knowledge of rare diseases.[7] In addition, to serve as a learning tool, the Internet may motivate students to undertake research and help them develop skills in collecting and analyzing data.[8] Several studies have shown the potential use of computers, IT and Internet in the dental curriculum as an educational tool.[9] Hence, we determined to conduct such kind of study in three dental institutes of our Nagpur city.

Aim

Assessment of the use of computer and Internet and its application in dental education among the dental students of VSPM Dental College and Research Centre (VSPM DC and RC), Government Dental College and Hospital (GDC and H), and Swargiya Dadasaheb Kalmegh Smruti Dental College and Hospital (SDKS) of Nagpur city.

Objectives

  • To evaluate computer use and its application in dental education
  • To evaluate Internet use and its application in dental education
  • To compare the computer and Internet use and its application in dental education among the preclinical year students and clinical year students.



  Materials and Methods Top


The analysis protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee of college. The study was administered out on undergraduate dental students from the first to final BDS students studying in three dental colleges of Nagpur.

Study design

A cross-sectional based study was designed. A questionnaire was distributed among first to final BDS students of VSPM DC and RC, GDC, and H and SDKS Dental College, Nagpur.

Study population

There were a total of 744 students from all the three dental colleges. There were about 140 male students and 604 female students. The number of preclinical and clinical year students from three dental colleges is given in [Table 1].
Table 1: Student from three dental institutes of Nagpur city

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Study procedure

The questionnaire consisted of a total 12 questions (some were taken from the previously conducted study[10],[11] and a few were newly added). The entire questionnaire was got validated. The inclusion criterion was all the willing students of first to final BDS of all three dental institutes. The students who were absent on the day of survey and unwilling students was the exclusion criteria. The questionnaire was distributed anonymously, after 10 min; the filled questionnaire was collected back at once.

Statistical analysis

The collected questionnaire was analyzed and also the information was recorded in excel-sheet.


  Results Top


The present study was carried out among students of three dental institutes of Nagpur city. There were about 744 students; of which, 604 were female and 140 were male.

The first question was about most common purpose of Internet use, in which we got varied answers about 120 (16.12%) of the participants use it for searching information in dentistry, 69 (9.27%) for downloading movie, games, etc., 55 (7.39%) for reading news and about 481 (64.65%) of the participants selected more than one option. While in comparison about 68 (19.48%) of the clinical year students use Internet for searching information in dentistry as a comparison to 52 (13.16%) of the preclinical year students.

There were about 302 (40.59%) of the respondents use computers and Internet very often for their studies, and about 368 (49.46%) use it for sometimes, and 74 (9.94%) never use it for their studies. In comparison about 163 (46.70%) of the clinical year, students use it for studies as compared to 139 (35.18%) of the preclinical year students.

The question regarding the feature of computer use more for study purpose, in this we found that, there were about 486 (65.32%) of the participants use Internet feature and MS-Powerpoint feature was selected by 157 (21.10%) of the participants, followed by 73 (9.81%) and 28 (3.76%) use it for MS-Word and MS-Excel, respectively. When we compared, 273 (69.11%) of the preclinical students uses internet feature as compare to 213 (61.03%) of the clinical year students.

While asking about the frequency of Internet use, there were about 268 (36.02%) of the participants who use it for 2–3 times within a week, followed by 194 (26.07%), 169 (22.71%), 102 (13.70%), and 11 (1.47%) use it for once a week, every day, once a month and never, respectively. In comparison, there were about 145 (36.30%) of the preclinical year's students use Internet 2–3 times a week as compared to 123 (35.24%) of the clinical year students.

The most common use of Internet in dental education for searching videos/animations of dental procedures were chosen by 221 (29.70%) of participants and about 385 (51.74%) of them use it for all purpose, i.e., for searching textbooks, videos, and for the literature search. In comparison 217 (54.93%) of the preclinical year, students use the InternetInternet for all the above purpose as compared to 168 (48.13%) of the clinical year students.

The preference of students for lecture taking was by both, i.e., using the board with marker and powerpoint presentations was chosen by 439 (59%) of the participants. In comparison also the result was almost same that is 229 (57.97%) of the preclinical and 210 (60.17%) of the clinical year students prefer to take lecture by power point and board with marker.

While asking about awareness about the availability of e-books, there were about 419 (56.31%) of participants were unaware, and about 325 (43.68%) were aware of its availability. In comparison 165 (41.77%) of the preclinical and 160 (45.84%) of clinical year students were aware of e-books availability.

There were about 302 (40.59%) of the participants prefer to read text from a book as compared to the computer. While 221 (29.70%) of them like to read from a computer. One hundred and twenty-seven (17.06%) thought that it is better to read text from a computer than a book. In comparison 173 (43.79%) of the preclinical year students prefer to read text from the book as compared to 129 (36.96%) of the clinical year students.

About 335 (45.02%) of the participants thought that computer and Internet is a replacement to conventional classroom teaching, whereas 273 (36.69%) of them disagreed with this statement and 136 (18. 27%) of them were not sure for this statement. In comparison about 173 (43.79%) of the preclinical year, students thought that computer and Internet is a replacement to conventional teaching as compared to 162 (46.41%) of the clinical year students.

The Internet is a good supplement to teaching and learning was thought by 409 (54.97%) participants. While 230 (30.91%) of them are not sure for this while 105 (14.11%) of them disagrees with this statement. While in comparison 244 (69.91%) of the clinical year students were thought that the Internet is a good supplement for teaching and learning as compared to 165 (41.77%) of preclinical year students.

Five hundred and six (68.01%) of the participants agree with the statement that Internet education should be made part of the undergraduate curriculum. One hundred (13.44%) of them are disagree and 138 (18.54%) of them were not sure. In comparison 266 (67.34%) of the preclinical year, students agree with the Internet education should be included in their curriculum as compared to 240 (68.76%) of the clinical year students.

The last question was about the perception about the satisfaction about currently available infrastructure for computer and Internet in their respective institute. There were about 383 (51.47%) of them were not satisfied, 221 (29.70%) were satisfied and 140 (18.81%) gave no opinion. In comparison 199 (57.02%) of the clinical year students were not satisfied as compared to 184 (46.58%) of the preclinical year students.

The detail result of the entire question is displayed in [Table 2]. In [Graph 1] and [Graph 2], displays the student's specific answers regarding the dental education moreover with the comparison between preclinical and clinical year students.
Table 2: Detail result of all questions

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  Discussion Top


Internet is a network of networks, joining many government, university, and private computers together and providing an infrastructure for the use of E-mail, bulletin boards, file archives, hypertext documents, databases, and other computational resources.[12] The Internet has become the world's biggest library, where retrieval of scientific resources can be done within minutes.[13]

We all are agreeing that the Internet has become a user friendly communication medium, which is cost-effective. With Internet, the required information can be accessed from anywhere without time limitation. The information on the Internet is usually updated, which helps in updating the recent knowledge and motivate students to undertake research activity.[8]

The study conducted by Harikumar et al.[10] in three dental colleges of Kerala among 347 participants found that 57 (16.4%) of the participants use Internet for searching information in dentistry. One hundred and thirty (37.5%) of them use Internet for preparing seminars and 251 (72.3%) participants thought that reading text/PDF from a book is good as compare to reading from computer. The study conducted by Kumar et al.[14] among 247 participants of Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, pursuing their career at the Darshan Dental College and Hospital, Udaipur, India, also found that about 44 (40%) and 36 (32.7%) of the students use Internet for searching text and clinical photos, respectively, whereas a study of Komerik[15] among 130 students found that 76% of the students preferred to use textbooks and/or lecture handouts when they needed information on dental participants, whereas 32% preferred the Internet. Texts were most commonly searched by 83% of the participants while 53% of the students accessed clinical photographs and 14% use to search histopathologic and radiographic materials. In our study, 120 (16.12%) of the participants use Internet for searching information in dentistry. Three hundred and eighty-five (51.74%) of them use it for all purpose, i.e., for searching textbooks, videos, and literature and about 302 (40.59%) of the participants prefer to read text from a book as compared to computer.

Harikumar et al.[10] also found that 282 (81.3%) of the participants thought that Internet is good supplement for teaching and learning. Two hundred and fifty-six (73.8%) disagree with the statement that the computer and Internet is replacement to conventional classroom teaching. Two hundred and sixty-eight (77.2%) of them thought that Internet education should be made part of undergraduate curriculum. Two hundred and seventy (77.8%) are not satisfied with the current infrastructure of their institute for the computer and Internet. In our study also, the Internet is a good supplement to teaching and learning was thought by 409 (54.97%) participants, 335 (45.02%) of the participants thought that computer and Internet is a replacement to conventional classroom teaching while 506 (68.01%) of the participants agree with statement that Internet education should be made part of undergraduate curriculum and 383 (51.47%) of them were not satisfied with the currently available infrastructure for the computer and Internet.

Kumar et al.[14] found that about 46 (18.6%) of the students use Internet for dental purpose once in a couple of months and 137 (55.5%) never use it. While comparing between preclinical and clinical years 29 ((24.4%) of the clinical year students use Internet as compare to 17 (13.3%) of the preclinical students. Komerik[15] found that 37% of the participants use Internet once in a couple of month for dental purpose and 32% once a week for general purpose. In our study, 268 (36.02%) of the participants use Internet for 2–3 times within a week for dental purpose and while comparing there were about 145 (37%) of the preclinical years students use Internet 2–3 times a week as compared to 123 (35%) of the clinical year students.

Rahman[11] conducted study at Riyadh dental Institute, Saudi Arabia among 226 students. He found that 149 (65.93%) of the students use computer daily for studies. One hundred and thirty-eight (61.06%) use MS power-point feature of computer for the study, 111 (49.12%) prefer to take lectures to be taken both by board with marker and power point presentation. One hundred and five (46.46%) of them thought they have good access and availability of Internet, in our study also 368 (49.46%) use Internet for studies for sometimes. MS-Power point feature was selected by 157 (21.10%) of the participants, 439 (59%) of the students preferred lecture taking by both, i.e., using board with marker and power point presentations.

Abdullah and Gibb[16] conducted a survey on e-book awareness where he found that 72% of the respondents were familiar with the term e-book before the survey while 57% pointed out that they were not aware of the e-book availability from the library. While in contrast, Bennett and Landoni[17] showed 54% of the respondents were aware of e-book holdings in the library. In our study also 419 (56.31%) of participants were unaware and 325 (43.68%) of the participants were aware of about e-book availability.

Several studies are conducted thus far to assess the use of computers and Internet among the undergraduates. In our study, the sample size was quiet large and we conjointly compared between preclinical and clinical year students.

Lecture absenteeism, which is described as a universal challenge, has a number of causes.[18] Convenience of knowledge on one click on mobile/Internet may be the biggest reason for this. In our study result also, there were about 335 (45.02%) of the participants thought that computer and Internet is a replacement to conventional classroom teaching. However, the students ought to perceive that, there's no replacement to classroom teaching, as current teaching incorporates all the teaching materials not solely from the various texts; however additionally, there's a inclusion of study materials retrieved from the web sites of correct link. However, the students can undoubtedly use these facilities as supplementary tool for learning and that too underneath the steering of colleges to settle on correct link.

Limitation and future directions

The questionnaire was self-reported therefore answers given by the participants could also be biased. The comparison per gender of the students could not be ready to calculate due to the unequal quantitative ratio between them. The survey may be extended to grasp the various sites of Internet employed by the students for the study.


  Conclusion Top


Majority of the dental students use computer and Internet for his or her studies. At the identical time, students were not a lot aware about e-books. They conjointly prefer to read text from a book. The preclinical year student's angle toward use of computer and Internet was found to be more as compare to clinical year students. Most of the students were additionally not glad with the current infrastructure for the computer and Internet that ought to be modified for his or her use for the studies. Authors wants to specify that, the current teaching practice is so modified in which faculty deliver a multimodal type of lecture by using information technology, and hence, the students should take the computer and Internet as a supplement and not the replacement.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to give their sincere thanks to the Deans of VSPMDC and RC Nagpur, GDC and H Nagpur and SDKS Dental College, Nagpur for permitting to conduct the study in their institutes and all the students of respective dental institutes for participating in the survey.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.



 
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