Teachers' Perceptions of Netiquette Practices by undergraduate Dental Students During Online Classes in Covid-19 Pandemic

Perceptions and Expectations of Academic Staff in Bucharest towards the COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Dental Education

Dental education was severely challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The evaluation of the viewpoint of the dental teachers of the Faculty of Dentistry at "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, on these exceptional circumstances' consequences was the objective of this paper. A cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2022, on the academic staff who reported their perceptions of the emotional and educational impact of the pandemic by completing a Google Forms questionnaire. Although a significant emotional impact of the pandemic was reported by over a third of the participants (31.2%), most of them being teachers of fifth-year dental students (p = 0.019), the perceived stress had an impact on the teaching performance in few of them (14%), the quality of sleep remaining unaffected in most of them (53.7%), whereas the level of anxiety was low (57%). An educational impact regarding the techno difficulties during the online transition was mentioned by few respondents (16.1%), with male teaching staff facing the fewest problems (p = 0.024), as well as low levels of difficulties in transmitting academic information (11.9), with men also being the most unaffected (p = 0.006). More than half of the participants (59.1%) rather see digital and/or virtual education during the pandemic as having adverse effects on the educational system, the most sceptical being teachers of the fifth (p = 0.001) and sixth years (p = 0.001). The COVID-19 pandemic affected the academic staff of the Faculty of Dentistry at "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, not only at a personal level but also at a professional, pedagogical one, due to the introduction of the online teaching system followed by the hybrid one. Age group, gender, and teaching year differentiated the degree of emotional and educational impairment.

Incivility in online learning environment: Perception of dental students and faculty

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study were to assess the extent of incivility and perception of dental students and faculty regarding uncivil behaviors in the online learning environment.

METHODS

Incivility in online environment (IOLE) survey was used to collect data from dental students (n = 232) and faculty (n = 35) at Margalla Institute of Health Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan from September to December 2021. A 4- point Likert scale was used for respondents to indicate their perceptions regarding incivility in IOLE, and a list of students' and faculty's uncivil behaviors. Descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used for data analysis. The level of significance was kept at ≤0.05.

RESULTS

The majority of the students reported online incivility as either "a moderate or serious problem" (n = 103, 72.0%), and the majority of faculty (n = 12, 56%) reported incivility as "no to a mild problem" (p = 0.018). Both students and faculty agreed that students are more likely to engage in uncivil behavior in OLE as compared to faculty. Various forms of rude/threatening comments and posting ambiguous or vague responses that do not add meaning to the online discussion were considered uncivil student behaviors by both students and faculty (p ≤ 0.05). Assigning grades without providing useful feedback and threatening to fail students for not complying with faculty's demands were perceived as uncivil faculty behaviors (p ≤ 0.05). Female students and students with less self-reported expertise in online learning had greater mean scores for faculty uncivil behaviors (p ≤ 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Incivility exists in OLE in dentistry with the more likely engagement of students in uncivil behaviors. With the increasing use of online platforms for education in dentistry, there is a need for further research and training courses for both students and faculty to reduce the extent of incivility and create a healthy and conducive learning environment.