Journal of Mashhad Dental School (Jan 2013)
An Evaluation of the Quality of Teaching
Abstract
Introduction: It has been a decade since the course “Community Oral Health” has been revised. The aim of this study was to evaluate how the course of community oral health is being taught in the undergraduate program of dental schools in Iran after a decade of revisions.Materials & Methods: In spring 2010, dental schools have been requested to report how the course of community oral health is being taught in terms of content and format, number of credits and the distribution of the credits along the curriculum, and the discipline of the teachers that teach this course.Results: In total, 12 schools responded. The content of the course, in all the schools, was according to what had been formally authorized by the Ministry of health and the format of presentation was a mix of lecture, workshop, and field work. The most prevalent format of presentation even in some parts of practical credit was lecture; field work was rare. In 92% of the schools, this course consisted of one theoretical and five practical credits. More than half of the schools (58%) reported that the teachers of this course did not have a degree related to the community oral health.Conclusion: There are shortcomings in the mode of teaching the course of community oral health in dental schools in Iran. To improve the quality of teaching for this course, the department of community oral health needs to be strengthened and cooperation with this department must be enhanced inside the dental schools and as well between dental schools and university.
