First evaluation of an app to optimize and organize the processes and assessments in dental clinical courses

Goob, Janosch; Possert, Philipp; Klören, Markus; Erdelt, Kurt; Güth, Jan-Frederik; Edelhoff, Daniel; Liebermann, Anja (2022): First evaluation of an app to optimize and organize the processes and assessments in dental clinical courses. BMC Medical Education, 22 (1). ISSN 1472-6920

Abstract

Background
Digital teaching and learning tools, such as computer/mobile apps, are becoming an important factor in modern university education. The objective of our study was to introduce, analyze, and assess an organization and dual assessment app for clinical courses in dental medicine.

Methods
This was a survey-based study of dental students from the clinical study phase (4th/5th year; 8th/10th semester) of a department of prosthetic dentistry at a German university hospital about the benefits of a novel web-based and mobile app for organization and dual assessment of dental clinical courses. A total of eight questions were answered in an anonymous online survey. Data were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, followed by an exploratory data analysis (α < 0.05).

Results
The app was given an average grade of 2.4, whereby 56.9% of the respondents rated the app with a grade of 2 (2 = good). In all, 94.6% of the study participants had not experienced any technical problems when using the app. Concerning the assessment, teaching doctor assessment (51.5 [IQR: 44.0]) was rated significantly better (p = 0.002) than self-assessment (39.5 [IQR: 32.8]).

Conclusions
This investigation evaluated a newly introduced app to optimize dental clinical course workflows and assessment. The organizational feature was rated as good, while the daily self- and teaching doctor assessments were evaluated as less important. The results outline how the use of app technologies can provide an infrastructure for managing organization and daily assessments in dental education.

• Doc-Type: Article (LMU Hospital)
• Organisational unit (Faculties): 07 Medicine > Medical Center of the University of Munich > Polyclinic for Dental Prosthetics
• DFG subject classification of scientific disciplines: Life sciences
• DFG: Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - 491502892