A logbook for continuous self-assessment during 1 year in paediatric dentistry

The present study was designed to investigate whether a logbook helps undergraduate students to develop the ability to self-reflect and to increase their self-awareness.

A logbook was introduced to 54 dental students in their fourth year of education at the beginning of the paediatric dentistry course. The students filled in a questionnaire on learning styles at the start of the course and after 12 months.

The results showed that at the end of the course significantly fewer students wished to be given detailed instructions to solve problems. Significantly more students felt able to expose both their weaknesses and strengths in clinical competence in the presence of their teachers. Students who reported a good knowledge of their own clinical skills found feedback from instructors more constructive compared with those who reported less good knowledge.

For a large group of students, the logbook stimulated self-reflection, learning from personal clinical experience, and an increase in knowledge about their weaknesses and strengths in clinical competence.