Undergraduate dental students’ perceptions of team-teaching: A Malaysian experience on cross-professional preclinical education

Introduction

Limited research has been conducted to determine how undergraduate dental students perceive team-teaching, especially when involving teachers from other allied dental professions. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine students’ perceptions of team-teaching in a preclinical dental materials science course.

Methods

The current laboratory dental materials practical session was carried out for the second-year undergraduate dental students. The session was conducted solely by a dental technology lecturer in the dental technology laboratory. Students attended lectures on commonly used laboratory-based dental materials before the session comprising seven teaching and learning stations. 19 close-ended questions using 5-point Likert Scales to assess 4 domains (perception of learning, teacher, learning environment, and preference of learning) including 2 open-ended questions were administered at the end of the session. Mean scores for each questionnaire item were analysed, whereas content analysis was performed for open-ended responses.

Result

The respondent rate was 100% (n = 68). Mean scores for domains 1, 2, 3, and 4 ranged from 4.35–4.69, 4.63–4.87, 4.53–4.69, and 2.93–3.74, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha value for all the questionnaire items was 0.85, while confirmatory factor analysis scores for all domains were > 0.7, with 2 items being removed. Based on the open-ended responses, students enjoyed the communication between the teacher and students and wished to have more hands-on activity.

Conclusion

Students generally showed positive perceptions towards their learning, teacher, and learning environment, despite showing mixed preference towards team-teaching. Additional research is required to evaluate teachers’ and policymakers’ perspectives as well as the impact of team-teaching on students' academic performance.