Evaluation of faculty perceptions of online dental education in the Kuwait University Faculty of Dentistry

<p>In recent years, online learning has become a recognized method for delivering educational content in numerous institutions of higher education. Despite the prevalence of this new method of education and training, few studies have been performed regarding online learning in the field of dental education. This research describes and analyzes faculty perceptions in the Kuwait University-Faculty of Dentistry regarding online dental education. Out of sixty-six full-time faculty members thirty-three of them have responded to questionnaires regarding their perceptions. The data were analyzed for themes and patterns. There was a general positive perception toward online learning as a good tool to enhance dental education. When replying to questions about the challenges and obstructions of online learning, faculty members’ answers indicated that a lack of time and administrative support created barriers to teaching online learning courses. Viewpoints of the faculty members were further analyzed by age, gender, education level, and teaching experiences. The results showed some variation in the levels of agreement toward online learning based on various components of identity. Females were slightly more positive about online teaching and learning. However, there were no noticeable differences between faculty members of different ages. The academic positions did correlate with perceptions: those who hold the highest academic position (professors) had the least favorable perceptions of online teaching. Further, participants who had 6 to 10 teaching experience years had a stronger positive attitude than those who had been teaching for fewer than 5 years or more than 16 years. Keywords : online education, dental education, web-based learning, distance learning, e-learning, faculty perception.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Administration and Leadership

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Alenezi, Hanadi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Linda Skrla
• Lynn Beck

• Dentistry
• Health education
• Educational technology
• Higher education
• Health and environmental sciences
• Education
• Dental education
• Distance learning
• E-learning
• Faculty perception
• Kuwait
• Online learning
• Educational Administration and Supervision
• Educational Leadership

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Identifier

9781321728569

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1210