Evaluation of the learning quality in the virtual environment (Moodle) in oral health, in the students’ perspective

Abstract

The offer of distance learning courses implies in the monitoring and evaluation of its educational processes, which aim to capture its gaps and allow, by means of a cycle of reflection and strategic action, to advance the quality of its development. The objective of this study was to describe students’ perception regarding the quality of learning process carried out through an opinion survey. Participants were 332 graduate students from six distance learning education courses in mandatory areas of the Dental Specialties Centers. The instrument used was the Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) with 24 questions and six dimensions: relevance, critical reflection, interaction, tutorial support, peer support, and understanding. Responses were on five-points Likert scale, ranging from almost never to almost always. Data were analyzed and presented as absolute and relative frequencies. Results revealed that for most of the participants (85.3%) the courses were relevant to their professional practices. Critical reflection was often (43.2%) carried out about the content of the courses. According to 39.1% of the students, the tutor encouraged them to reflect on the course activities. Worse results were obtained in interactivity, a dimension in which only 13.5% were willing to explain their ideas and 44.3% almost never asked for explanations regarding colleagues’ ideas. This study observes that the students perceive favorably four of the six dimensions.  However, it is necessary to reorganize the activities in order to improve interactivity and collaboration.