Educational necessities to compensate for faculty shortage.

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate whether senior dental students (4DS) could serve as effective instructors in a two-semester preclinical laboratory course and whether such teaching experience could enhance their interest in academics as a future career. Based on academic performance, five senior students were recruited to serve as instructors in a two-semester morphology/occlusion laboratory course in which ninety-five first-year dental students were enrolled. The first-year students were randomly assigned so that each student was instructed by a faculty member in one semester and a 4DS in the other semester. Outcomes included course evaluation forms completed by the first-year dental students at the end of each semester; a comparison of students' performances in each course determined by faculty instructors and 4DSs; and the 4DSs' self-report of their teaching experiences. Results showed no significant difference between the performance of 4DS and faculty instructors in all criteria evaluated (p>.05). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the performance of students instructed by faculty members and those instructed by 4DS in either semester (p>.05). Despite the fact that such experience seemed to have minimal influence on students' decision to consider academics as a future career, 4DSs do seem to provide effective instruction and thereby can serve to compensate for faculty shortages.