STUDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND USE OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED-LEARNING IN ORAL RADIOLOGY OVER A 10-YEAR PERIOD

Objective: To compare the attitudes towards CAL of today's dental stud ents with those 10 years ago and to assess the use of CAL over a 10-ye ar period. Methods: A questionnaire was given to 40 current dental stu dents containing 15 identical questions to those asked 10 years previo usly. Attitudes were ranked on a scale from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). Ove r the entire period, 420 students ((x) over bar=42 students/year, rang e 33-56) used the programs. The material consisted of interactive comp uter-based teaching programs on: intraoral radiography, X-ray density and sharpness, basic radiation physics, radiation biology, Xray appara tus and a multiple choice bank. A central computer served the PCs whic h the students could use as they required. Each program start was reco rded at the server. Due to rebuilding and change of server, no data we re sampled during 7 months of 1991. Results: Overall, there was no sta tistically significant difference (P>0.05) between students' attitudes in 1996 and 1985. Two questions were scored significantly higher in 1 996. The programs were run 12 269 times in the 10-year period. Use of the programs increased steadily whereas number of dental students/year decreased. Program runs in each year, expressed as percentage (in bra ckets) of total runs over the 10-year period, were: 1986 (1), '87 (8), '88 (8), '89 (11), '90 (9), '91 (3), '92 (13), '93 (13), '94 (16), '9 5 (18). Conclusions: The favourable attitudes seen 10 years ago when C AL was initiated could not be ascribed to a Hawthorne effect as simila rly or more favourable attitudes were recorded in 1996. Though not man datory, CAL was frequently and increasingly used by dental students ov er the 10-year period.