Ludwig B, Bister D, Schott T C, Lisson J A, Hourfar J
Private practice, Traben-Trarbach, Germany.
Department of Orthodontics, University of Homburg/Saar, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
Eur J Dent Educ. 2016 Feb;20(1):20-5. doi: 10.1111/eje.12135. Epub 2015 Jan 5.
Cephalometry is important for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning and is part of the core curriculum for training dentists. Training involves identifying anatomical landmarks. The aim of this investigation was to assess whether e-learning improves learning efficiency; a programme specifically designed for this purpose was compared to commercially available software.
Thirty undergraduate students underwent traditional training of cephalometry consisting of lectures and tutorials. Tracing skills were tested immediately afterwards (T0). The students were then randomly allocated to three groups: 10 students served as control (CF); they were asked to improve their skills using the material provided so far. Ten students were given a program specifically designed for this study that was based on a power point presentation (PPT). The last group was given a commercially available program that included teaching elements (SW). The groups were tested at the end the six week training (T1). The test consisted of tracing 30 points on two radiographs and a point score improvement was calculated. The students were interviewed after the second test.
Both e-learning groups improved more than the traditional group. Improvement scores were four for CF; 8.6 for PPT and 2.8 for SW. For PPT all participants improved and the student feedback was the best compared to the other groups. For the other groups some candidates worsened.
Blended learning produced better learning outcomes compared to using a traditional teaching method alone. The easy to use Power Point based custom software produced better results than the commercially available software.
头影测量对于正畸诊断和治疗计划很重要，是牙科医生培训核心课程的一部分。培训包括识别解剖标志点。本研究的目的是评估电子学习是否能提高学习效率；将为此专门设计的一个程序与市售软件进行比较。
30名本科生接受了由讲座和辅导课组成的传统头影测量培训。之后立即测试描图技能（T0）。然后将学生随机分为三组：10名学生作为对照组（CF）；要求他们使用到目前为止提供的材料提高技能。10名学生被给予一个为此研究专门设计的基于幻灯片演示文稿（PPT）的程序。最后一组被给予一个包含教学元素的市售程序（SW）。在六周培训结束时（T1）对各小组进行测试。测试包括在两张X光片上描出30个点，并计算得分提高情况。第二次测试后对学生进行访谈。
两个电子学习组的进步都超过了传统组。CF组的进步分数为4分；PPT组为8.6分，SW组为2.8分。对于PPT组，所有参与者都有进步，与其他组相比，学生反馈最好。对于其他组，一些参与者的表现变差了。
与仅使用传统教学方法相比，混合式学习产生了更好的学习效果。基于幻灯片的易于使用的定制软件比市售软件产生了更好的结果。
