Teacher feedback and student learning: A quantitative study

Reviewing assessment strategies in European dental schools

OBJECTIVES

Effectively assessing dental students' knowledge and skills is an important part of their education. Assessment techniques available to teachers, have become more diverse as new technologies are introduced. This study aimed to investigate what dental educators thought about current and future assessment techniques.

METHODS

This was a mixed method study; quantitative data being collected at an annual dental educators' conference, via on-screen questions requesting: i) demographic information; ii) type of student assessment currently used; iii) impact of Covid-19 on student assessment, and iv) future perceptions of assessment. Questions were posed in real time using the 'Vevox' platform. Descriptive statistical analysis was employed. Qualitative data were collected on 'post-its' and analysed thematically.

RESULTS

101 participants attended the study. 59.1% (n = 60) had >11 years' experience. 64% (n = 55) considered their summative and formative assessments were effective in developing student learning. Few participants reported students' involvement in creating their own assessments (n = 8; 9.75%). 41.68% (n = 36) participants agreed it was a good idea for students to be involved in developing assessments, but only 9.75% (n = 8) reported it was already happening. Qualitative data indicated a reluctance to wholeheartedly embrace technology (including AI) when planning assessments. Most participants were not in favour of Co-creation or the use of some technologies.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants, reflected on the challenges of adopting a universal assessment approach. Dental educators should be given the institutional support and autonomy to implement the best assessment methods for their students. Most of this cohort of experienced dental educators reported that assessments facilitated student learning.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The role of assessment for dental students is essential as dental educators must ensure that dental students graduate with appropriate knowledge and technical skills to be safe when in general dental practice. The use of various assessment techniques needs to reflect the diversity of skills the students need to demonstrate.

Dental Teacher Feedback and Student Learning: A Qualitative Study

INTRODUCTION

Feedback is essential to improve student learning and motivation and to encourage curriculum development by teachers. This study looked at feedback to and from dental students from a qualitative perspective.

METHODS

Dental teachers were recruited exclusively to this study from the membership of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE). Delegates from each of the four annual ADEE conferences were invited to attend focus groups to discuss aspects of feedback. Focus groups established an individual theme for the respective conferences: (i) the role of the teacher in delivering feedback; (ii) feedback from the students' perspective; (iii) changes to feedback due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and (iv) integrating feedback with assessments.

RESULTS

Qualitative data collected from the conference delegates were diverse and thought provoking. Delegates reported different styles of feedback varying from individual, personal feedback to no feedback at all. An enforced and mostly positive adaptation to online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic was reported. A partial return to pre-pandemic practices was described.

CONCLUSIONS

Feedback is well recognized by students and teachers as contributing to learning. A universal approach to delivering feedback as part of the student learning process can be challenging due to a multitude of variables. Many aspects of changes in dental education, teaching, and feedback practices adopted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have been retained post-pandemic, thereby accelerating the anticipated progression to online teaching.

Teacher feedback-based collaborative testing improves students' knowledge gaps of parasitology

Collaborative testing has been demonstrated the ability to improve students' performance, enhance students' learning, and aid in knowledge retention in many different courses. However, this examination mode lacks the process of teacher feedback. Herein, a short teacher feedback from was added immediately after the collaborative testing to improve the students' performance. A parasitology class of 121 undergraduates was randomized into two groups: group A and group B. Collaborative testing was carried out at the end of theoretical teaching. During the test, students would first answer questions as individuals for 20 minutes. Then, students from group A answered the same questions in groups (5 students in each group) for 20 minutes, while the group-testing duration was only 15 minutes in group B. Immediately after the group testing, teachers conducted a 5-minute feedback about the morphology identification according to the analysis of the answers by group B. Four weeks later, a final test was conducted in an individual test. The total scores and scores for each examination content were analyzed. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the final exam scores between both groups (t = -1.278, P = 0.204). However, the morphological and diagnostic test results of the final examination in group B were significantly higher than those of the midterm examination, while there was no significant change in group A (t = 4.333, P = 0.051). The results confirmed that the teacher feedback after the collaborative testing can effectively make up for the students' knowledge gaps.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study found that collaborative group testing is helpful for teachers to grasp students' knowledge gaps more easily and the teacher feedback after the collaborative group testing can effectively make up for the knowledge gaps of students.

Testing the effectiveness of motivation-based teaching in Nursing English course: A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

Motivation is a crucial factor in determining the student-learning process. Integrating the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) motivation model into the Nursing English course has the potential to motivate nursing students and improve their learning outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

To apply motivational tactics to the Nursing English course and explore the effects on the learning motivation, engagement, and performance of vocational college nursing students.

DESIGN

A quasi-experimental study.

SETTING

The study was conducted at a vocational college in XXXX.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 229 sophomore nursing students (experimental group = 114; comparison group = 115) participated.

METHODS

Motivation-based teaching was applied to the experimental group, while traditional lecture-based teaching was used with the comparison group. The Course Interest Survey (CIS) was used to measure student learning motivation; the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student (UWES-S) was used to assess student learning engagement (both pre- and posttest). Midterm and final examination scores were used to compare the learning performance between both groups.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences between both groups at the pretest in the CIS, UWES-S, and midterm examination scores. Significant group ∗ time interactions were found for CIS, UWES-S, and examination scores. The simple effect analysis showed that the experimental group's CIS, UWES-S, and examination scores were significantly higher than the comparison group at the posttest. Furthermore, the motivation-based teaching led to significant improvements in the CIS scores (from 3.12 [0.43] to 3.66 [0.34], p < 0.001), UWES-S scores (from 3.72 [0.53] to 4.05 [0.69], p < 0.001) and the CIS and UWES-S sub-scale scores of the experimental group. No changes were observed in the comparison group. The experimental group showed more remarkable improvement than the comparison group in examination scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Motivation-based teaching effectively improved learning motivation, learning engagement, and learning performance of students in the Nursing English course.

COVID-19 online teaching intervention and learning performance of college foreign language students

This quasi-natural experimental study examined an online teaching intervention implemented in response to COVID-19 in China in 2020. It applied the difference-in-difference model to examine the impact and path of the intervention on students' learning performance of a college foreign language (LPCFL). Based on data from records of withdrawing and changing courses, classroom learning, and teaching evaluations; a questionnaire survey of teachers and students; and relevant school documents during the last seven terms, the results indicated that the online teaching intervention could significantly improve students' LPCFL. This finding remained robust after adopting a placebo test approach to mitigate possible endogeneity issues. Additionally, this study also conducted a group test through sub-sample regression based on students' discipline characteristics and intervention organization methods. The results showed that the students who participated in the intervention significantly improved in the three disciplines: humanities was most significantly affected, science and engineering were least significantly affected, and economics and management were in the middle. A range effect was observed for organizational methods. The two downward transmission methods by college teaching management terms had significant positive effects, whereas the other two methods of downward transmission by college student management had significant negative effects. An analysis of the action mechanism indicated that the online teaching intervention mostly improved LPCFL through two channels: students' learning input and learning support. Overall, these findings not only help expand the research framework on macro environmental intervention policy and micro-learning behavior but also have implications for the in-depth understanding of the real learning effect of online learning interventions for college students and their design in the post-COVID-19 era.

Using sentiment analysis to evaluate qualitative students' responses

Text analytics in education has evolved to form a critical component of the future SMART campus architecture. Sentiment analysis and qualitative feedback from students is now a crucial application domain of text analytics relevant to institutions. The implementation of sentiment analysis helps understand learners' appreciation of lessons, which they prefer to express in long texts with little or no restriction. Such expressions depict the learner's emotions and mood during class engagements. This research deployed four classifiers, including Naïve Bayes (NB), Support Vector Machine (SVM), J48 Decision Tree (DT), and Random Forest (RF), on a qualitative feedback text after a semester-based course session at the University of Education, Winneba. After enough training and testing using the k-fold cross-validation technique, the SVM classification algorithm performed with a superior accuracy of 63.79%.

Teacher Feedback and Student Learning-The Students' Perspective

INTRODUCTION

Feedback from teachers to students plays an important role in informing students about the outcome of their assessments. It contributes to students' ongoing learning. The aim of this study was to investigate dental students' perceptions of the feedback given to them by their teachers in Europe.

MATERIALS & METHODS

An online questionnaire was completed by dental students throughout Europe in this quantitative study. Data were collected via Google Forms, transferred to an excel spreadsheet and analysed using SPSS software Version 24.

RESULTS

234 students studying in 9 different European countries completed the questionnaire. These students were born in 36 different countries within and beyond Europe. 84% (n=197) were undergraduate students. 20.3% (n=48) students reported receiving feedback following summative assessments. 81.2% (n=190) students reported constructive criticism as their preferred mode of receiving feedback. 11.3% (n=26) students did not know who delivered the feedback to them. 71% (n=166) students felt that the feedback they received had a significant impact on their future learning.

CONCLUSION

It would appear that there is some diversity in dental students' perceptions of: i) who delivers feedback, ii) when feedback is given, iii) the consistency of feedback received, and iv) the style of feedback they preferred compared to that delivered by tutors. Feedback is being provided to dental students in an appropriate and helpful manner, although there is still room for improvement. Students were aware of the significance of feedback and its impact on future learning.

Practice makes perfect? Association between students' performance measures in an advanced dental simulation course

PURPOSE

This study examines the relationship between student performance measures during practice and exams using advanced dental simulation.

METHODS

Data from 11 classes of first-year dental students were extracted from Advanced Simulation software (DentSim™) related to Class I and Class II preparations including: total number of practice sessions, average practice score, exam scores, average time preparing teeth during practice/exam, and average time self-evaluating preparations during practice/exam. Comparisons of average practice and exam scores were examined using paired t-test. Relationships between practice/exam measures and exam scores were determined with multiple linear regression.

RESULTS

Practice mean and exam scores were significantly associated; exam scores were significantly higher in both procedures. Class I: a significant positive relationship exists between both practice and exam measures: The average practice score was significantly associated with exam score (p < 0.001); time spent preparing the exam tooth was negatively associated with the exam score (p < 0.001); conversely, time spent self-evaluating the exam tooth was significantly associated with an increase in exam score (p = 0.0135). Class II: exam score was significantly associated with two practice measures but neither of the exam measures: exam score for Class II mesioocclusal preparation was significantly associated with average practice score (p < 0.001) and the number of practice attempts (p = 0.025).

CONCLUSION

This study emphasizes the predictive value of novice learners' deliberate, repetitive practice using advanced dental simulation, which enhances self-assessment in early stages of psychomotor skill development. Future studies are needed to demonstrate the translation of these skills into a patient care setting.

Teachers’ Feedback Practices in COVID-19: Has Anything Changed?

Objectives

Feedback delivered by teachers to dental students has a profound impact on students’ ongoing learning and development. The aim of this study was to investigate changes to feedback practices as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing challenges to delivering quality dental education.

Methods

This was a mixed method study. Quantitative data were collected through a bespoke questionnaire delivered to attendees of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) annual conference. Qualitative data were collected via four focus groups at the conference, each discussing a particular theme. The questionnaire and conference were delivered online via Gmail and MS Teams, respectively.

Quantitative data were analysed descriptively; qualitative data were analysed narratively, and both were triangulated.

Results

67 questionnaire responses were received which represented a 26% response rate. Respondents came from 12 different countries within Europe and beyond and reported having a variety of roles in their dental schools. 77.6% (n = 52) respondents indicated they had changed their delivery of feedback due to the pandemic. One-third of respondents reported giving more feedback and 76% (n = 51) increased their quantity of feedback delivered online.

The increased incidence of online learning had resulted in a greater emphasis on teaching small groups, increased use of technology, increased emphasis on student centred learning and heightened awareness of changing the style of feedback delivery.

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic has enforced rapid changes to the delivery of feedback by teachers to dental students, which could pave the way for a more positive, inclusive, individualistic and effective approach for delivering feedback now and in the future.

Clinical significance

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant shift from face-to-face teaching to online tuition, which promoted a need to re-evaluate the best method of delivering feedback to students. The ongoing changes in teaching approaches have a profound impact on clinical skills acquisition for dental students. The quality of the feedback students receive may help to enhance the synergies between theoretical online teaching and hands-on clinical skills acquisition, which has been altered and disrupted due to the ongoing pandemic.

Exploration of Mental Readiness for Enhancing Dentistry in an Inter-Professional Climate

Competencies required for dentistry go far beyond the academic or scientific spheres. They incorporate important mental readiness concepts at its core with an appropriate balance of operational readiness (i.e., technical, physical, mental readiness). The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the importance of mental readiness for optimal performance in the daily challenges faced by dentists using an Operational Readiness Framework. One-on-one interviews were conducted with a select group of seasoned dentists to determine their mental readiness before, during and after successfully performing in challenging situations. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of mental readiness were applied. Study findings were compared with a Wheel of Excellence based on results from other high-performance domains such as surgery, policing, social services and Olympic athletics. The analysis revealed that specific mental practices are required to achieve peak performance, and the balance between physical, technical and mental readiness underpins these dentists' competency. Common elements of success were found-commitment, confidence, visualization, mental preparation, focus, distraction control, and evaluation and coping. This exploration confirmed many similarities in mental readiness practices engaged across high-risk professions. Universities, clinics and hospitals are looking for innovative ways to build teamwork and capacity through inter-professional collaboration. Results from these case studies warrant further investigation and may be significant enough to stimulate innovative curriculum design. Based on these preliminary dentistry findings, three training/evaluation tools from other professions in population health were adapted to demonstrate future application.