To Zoom or Not to Zoom? That Is the Question. A Discussion of Dental School Education in a Pandemic

In March 2020, traditional dental education was flipped on its ear. The COVID-19 pandemic raged throughout the nation causing most universities and professional schools to scuttle their traditional pedagogies. Lecture halls and laboratories were vacated. Social distancing became pandemic (pun intended). Governments shut down many universities and schools to prevent human socialization and the spread of the deadly virus. Businesses were shuttered. Everyone was asked to stay home. The hallowed Halls of Ivy were empty, and campus walkways were unoccupied—the university campus was upended in a state of bleak and dismal abandonment.

Traditional teaching professors were forced to abandon traditional teaching methods. As requirements of social distancing decimated the lecture halls, new technologies exemplified by endless Zoom gatherings, and digital postings became the new norm. The virtual classroom took over. Teachers and students alike were glued to their computer screens, seemingly 24/7. Sadly, a great malaise came over dental education in just a few short months.

The COVID-19 pandemic has stopped face-to-face education in its tracks. Universities and dental schools were forced to adopt remote instruction. To date, it is not authoritatively settled whether this teaching methodology is good or bad. In the past, universities and dental schools have experimented with remote learning, and it did not go well. Students did not feel the same connection with their instructors and that, in turn, made a difference in what they learned. It’s been suggested by some dental students that it is better to have a mediocre instructor in the classroom than a good instructor in a remote location.

Unfortunately, when hiring, evaluating, and rewarding faculty, medical schools and dental schools have the tendency to give most attention to research productivity or accumulated research citations and little to teaching effectiveness. This may be due to the difficulty in measuring effectiveness in the classroom. Many teachers do not wish to have their teaching effectiveness reviewed by peers and even less so by students. Nobody would think of judging a faculty member’s research by polling students about it. But the vast majority of dental schools appraise teaching primarily, or even exclusively, by way of student evaluations. Personal bias, unrecognized bias, or unfriendly agendas can often influence (correctly or incorrectly) classroom evaluations. With dental school and university budgets as tight as they are, it seems out of the question to use commercially available evaluation technologies. With classrooms now vacated, classroom effectiveness must now focus on digital pedagogy using technology that requires considerable effort and personal training by the teachers. One might ask: Is a good online teacher as effective as a good classroom teacher?

Historically, many dental school teachers have used teaching manuals or books to supplement classroom lectures; in today’s environment, piecemeal digital postings are used to supplement online pedagogy. A good teaching manual lays out the parameters of the course and concepts being taught. It can be a record of fundamentals taught and important concepts that may be referred to long after graduation. Doubtless, students today thrive in a digital world. Nowadays, they get much of what they know through the internet, Google searches and Wikipedia and in dental school through digital postings. Their cellphones are ubiquitous devices enabling them to access lectures and digital postings ad nauseam. These can give students a sense of things but are, by nature, quick and shallow reads that link to other quick and shallow reads. Books and manuals demand and reward. When students read them, their knowledge base deepens and expands. In time, that depth comes to inform their education, sometimes in ways of which they are not fully conscious. Unfortunately, it has been observed by many dental school teachers that the digital technologies have been chipping away at students’ capacities for concentration and contemplation. The process of thought just slips away. Good students like to read, as do good professionals.

It is my belief that most experienced teachers will concur that good teaching is deeply personal. Moreover, I think most good teachers agree that online teaching is, by its very nature, impersonal and tedious. Effective teachers like to establish a distinctive rapport with their students. Face-to-face energy and personal excitement are much more difficult to establish with students in the digital environment. That said, however, in these uncertain times, there will likely be more challenges on the horizon.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wanes in 2021, it is hoped that dental school educators can return to more personal interactions with their students and colleagues.