SHOULD I COME TO CLASS? A COMPARISON OF ACADEMIC AND CLINICAL ASSESSMENTS BETWEEN ENDODONTIC RESIDENTS RECEIVING IN PERSON VS VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION

Abstract

Background: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all modes of instructions were moved to virtual teaching for the matriculating Endodontic residents at Boston University (BU) School of Dental Medicine as well as other Boston schools (incoming class of 2022). Since dentistry is a very hands-on profession, the switch to virtual teaching comes with its own issues of concept retention, zoom fatigue and limited interaction/lack of engagement between residents and faculty. There has already been a steady decline in the attendance of live lectures by medical and dental students, with students touting the ease of watching online lectures/recorded lectures and learning at their own pace. With the pandemic and the resulting change in modality of classroom teaching, we may be evolving into an era where in person teaching will be limited to smaller seminars and or as an optional attendance for students (Hybrid classrooms). Methods: This study took a mixed methods observational research approach, with one group receiving the standard in-person teaching the previous year, and the other group receiving the new intervention of virtual teaching the subsequent year via the zoom platform. The two groups received the same curriculum in entirety. End of semester written, and oral exams were compared between the two cohorts along with their clinical assessment forms. One focus group was conducted individually with each class for the qualitative portion of this study. Results: The class of residents receiving in-person instruction scored higher in both written and oral components of the end of semester exam. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in their clinical performance and both groups improved in their exams and clinical performance over time. Focus groups highlighted themes emphasizing the importance of social connectedness and interactions, engagement, individual learning styles and motivating factors, zoom fatigue and the need for a hybrid model of education. Conclusions: While there was a difference in exam performance of residents receiving in-person vs virtual instruction there was no impact on their clinical performance. However, subjectively, the lack of social connectedness impacted the overall learning experience.