A survey of the IT skills and attitudes of final year dental students at Bristol University in 1996 and 1997

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Surveys of final year dental students were conducted in 1996 and 1997 to see if there were any detectable differences in students' perception of their own information technology IT skills and attitudes towards information technology following the opening of a dedicated computer-assisted-learning (CAL) room. An increase was seen in students' confidence levels, with fewer assessing themselves as IT "beginners" (1996 = 36%; 1997 = 14%), and more assessing themselves as competent in some basic skills (52%; 41%). Although more students were found to be using basic computer facilities (word processing, email, the World Wide Web), there was little difference in attitudes towards these packages between the 2 years. There was a significant increase in the number of students agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement "the use of IT had added value to this course for me" (1996 = 39%; 1997 = 67%). The main obstacle which was identified by students as a barrier to using IT was the lack of adequate training. Over half the students in both years felt that insufficient training had been provided to enable them to cope with the course without difficulty.