Computer-Assisted Instruction for Intraoral Radiography

Abstract

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has in the past few years been sporadically introduced in the teaching of dental students. In oral radiology, however, there have been no previous investigations of the effect of CAI on students' performance. Sixty-seven dental students were assigned at random to a computer-assisted (CG) and a teacher-assisted (TG) group. Students' theoretical knowledge was evaluated by multiple-choice tests, and their practical skills by their ability to perform a full-mouth intraoral radiographic survey on a phantom. The TG did the survey at a scheduled time after completion of a lecture course while the CG performed it whenever they felt competent. The results showed that students' theoretical knowledge was equally good in the two groups (p = 0.68). With regard to practical skills, the CG produced significantly better radiographs than the TG (p = 0.05).