Department of Community and Family Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa, FL 33612, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2011 May;75(5):589-97.
The incorporation of web-based learning into the dental curriculum has been consistently recommended in the literature on reform in dental education. There has been growing support for web-based learning in dental and dental hygiene education as demonstrated by deans' identifying this as a planned curricular innovation. The purpose of our study was to explore characteristics of e-courses that may serve to increase adoption among dental and dental hygiene faculty members. Eight ninety-minute focus groups (three dental; five dental hygiene) were conducted with dental (n=27) and dental hygiene (n=23) faculty members from six academic institutions. The resulting data were analyzed to identify two overarching themes and associated subthemes with regard to benefits and barriers influencing adoption of e-courses. A working conceptual framework, based on the Diffusion of Innovations, was developed from these themes to understand the characteristics that may influence the rate of adoption of e-courses among dental and dental hygiene faculty members. Analysis of the data revealed four main adoption barriers: 1) low perceived relative advantage to faculty members; 2) low compatibility with current curriculum; 3) high perceived time commitment; and 4) complexity of e-course development. This exploratory assessment identifies leverage points for facilitating the adoption and sustainability of e-courses in dental and dental hygiene education.
将基于网络的学习纳入牙科课程一直是牙科教育改革文献中一致推荐的。越来越多的人支持在牙科和牙科保健教育中使用基于网络的学习，这一点在院长们将其确定为计划课程创新中得到了体现。我们的研究目的是探讨可能有助于增加牙科和牙科保健教师采用电子课程的特点。我们对来自六所学术机构的 27 名牙科教师和 23 名牙科保健教师进行了八次 90 分钟的焦点小组讨论（三次牙科，五次牙科保健）。对产生的数据进行了分析，以确定与影响电子课程采用的利益和障碍有关的两个总体主题和相关子主题。根据这些主题制定了一个基于创新扩散的工作概念框架，以了解可能影响牙科和牙科保健教师采用电子课程速度的特点。数据分析揭示了四个主要的采用障碍：1）教师感知的相对优势低；2）与当前课程不兼容；3）感知的时间投入高；4）电子课程开发的复杂性。这种探索性评估确定了促进牙科和牙科保健教育中电子课程采用和可持续性的着力点。
