Digital Learning Strategy during COVID – Survey among 4th year Dental Students in Casablanca

Abstract

Introduction: The use of new technologies in the academic learning has largely taken place during the COVID 19 health crisis, opening up new perspectives for learning in 100% online or in hybrid mode. This change in teaching mode led us to ask ourselves about the impact of these learning methods and what recommendations could we propose to improve our current teaching strategies? This work allowed us to evaluate the degree of satisfaction with the different teaching strategies adopted by conservative odontology department during the pandemic period. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out over a period of 2 months from December 2022 to January 2023 among 4th year students of the dental faculty of Casablanca. Data collection with a four-page questionnaire, written in French, self-administered to 4th year students. Results: A response rate of 80.6% was recorded, 66% did not attend the lectures, 52% were quite satisfied with the lectures. On a scale of 1 to 10, 59% of students had a level of satisfaction between [5-7] for face-to-face teaching. 56% were quite satisfied with the Moodle tool, 46% were quite satisfied with the Webinars, 52% were quite satisfied with the Virtual Classes, 46% consulted the platform after the course, 27% of students were able to express themselves during the course, 28% of students said that the professors were available after the course, with an overall degree of satisfaction with distance mode located between [5-7] by 54%. 74% of students thought that face-to-face teaching can certainly be replaced by distance learning courses reinforced by face-to-face teaching. Conclusion: It is essential to recognize that this generation of students, referred to as “Gen Z” are technology natives, meaning they are familiar with ICT. This could play a role in making it easier to adapt to distance mode learning.