DENTLEARN PERIODONTICS: CLINICAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR UNDERGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS

Students in dental education are increasingly becoming technologically advanced, perhaps more than their teachers. Their communication is progressively becoming reliant on technology rather than a person to person path. They are also more reliant on educational web based resources to support their learning. Advances or development in interactive web based educational tools (IWET) will meet their expectations and allow for an on demand flexible delivery of educational material that supports their learning and allows vertical and horizontal integration within the syllabus. IWET have the added benefit of bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and development of psychomotor skills. Interactive web based tools in dentistry are as valuable as other methods of traditional teaching. However, they should not replace the pedagogy but be complementary to it. This paper presents an e-learning project called DentLearn: Periodontics which is aimed for clinical skills development for undergraduate dental students. The e-learning content is made of a combination of films, slides and some other learning resources which are integrated synchronously. in an e-learning presentation.