Supporting the university students' oral health attitude and higher-order thinking skills: The use of self-generated video discussion activities in dental education

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether the use of self-generated video discussion activities on the Flip app could improve university students' oral health attitudes and higher-order thinking skills. Methods: The participants were 155 university students [79 experimental group (EG) (Flip-based teaching), 76 control group (CG) (traditional instruction)]. The EG used the Flip app as an online video discussion platform outside of the university, while the CG received face-to-face instruction with an instructor-centred teaching approach assisted with PowerPoint slides. Data were collected using the Oral Health Attitude Scale (OHA-S), Higher-Order Thinking Skills Scale (HOTS-S), and a semi-structured interview form. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and the paired samples t-test were used (p < 0.05). Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Results: The results indicate that the EG had a higher sensitivity, tendency towards products and activities, and awareness scores than CG (p < 0.05). The EG had a higher oral health attitude score than the CG (p < 0.05). These results indicate that there was an increase in the OHA levels of both groups at the end of the experimental process (except for tendency towards products and activities in CG). EG indicated a higher problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity scores than CG (p < 0.05). The post-test of EG scores had a greater HOTS-S score than the post-test of CG (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Flip can be a potentially useful app for developing positive attitudes towards oral health education levels. The video discussion activities on Flip have the potential to promote active and deep learning. Dental educators can modernise their teaching approaches by adopting new technology concepts.