Influence of lecture attendance and prerequisite academic achievement on dental students' performance in a clinical endodontic course: A correlational study

Abstract

Introduction: Decreased lecture attendance in undergraduate dental education has been observed worldwide. The limited studies on the influence of lecture attendance on dental students' performance have yielded inconclusive results. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of lecture attendance on dental students' academic performance and determine if the past performance of students in prerequisite courses is predictive of their performance in an endodontic course at College of Dentistry, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: This was a correlational study design in which historical data for students (n = 158) enrolled in Endodontics II (ENDD 512) course were obtained for two consecutive academic years. Data were collected from grade transcripts provided by the assessment unit, and lecture attendance records were taken by the student affairs unit. The data were analyzed statistically. The level of significance (α) was set as 0.05. Results: The percentage of lectures attended had a weak correlation with ENDD 512 final grades (r = 0.108, P = 0.179). Comparison to previous academic performance showed that endodontic course grades were strongly correlated with all prerequisite course grades (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The students' performance in the course was most strongly predicted by their performance in certain prerequisite courses, while attendance was not a significant predictor.

Keywords

• dental education
• endodontics
• lecture attendance
• performance
• prerequisite courses