DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A COMPUTER-AIDED-LEARNING PACKAGE FOR MINOR ORAL-SURGERY TEACHING

'Aspects of Minor Oral Surgery' is a highly interactive software progr am that was commissioned by the Department of Health, England, as part of the continuing education opportunities of general dental practitio ners. The content of the program is also suited to the education of se nior clinical dental students. The beta (pre-release) version was eval uated by 67 general dental practitioners, who completed a questionnair e on aspects of the program's functionality. Responses on its usefulne ss as an educational tool were 78% positive and 4% negative. In compar ing the program to other educational media on the same subject, 77% fe lt it was better than video, 69% said it was better than textbooks, an d 80% preferred it to journals. Its main strengths were judged to be t he high level of interactivity, the ease of navigation and use, and th e quiz section. The quality of the images of surgical procedures displ ayed in the slide shows was judged to be a weakness, and this problem was addressed in preparing the final version. Ten UK academic and four health service senior oral surgeons were also asked to give feedback on the program's content, and these points were also incorporated in t he final text. More than 1600 copies of the program have been taken up by general dental practitioners so far. The program may be downloaded for evaluation via the internet.