Evaluation of a blog used in a dental terminology course for first-year dental students

This article reports the findings of a study conducted to evaluate a blog used in a dental terminology course. The blog was established using free online software to provide more learning exercises for students and to collect feedback about course proceedings. The instructor posted exercises such as multiple choice and true/false questions and invited students to publish answers. Students were also encouraged to post comments about difficult parts of the course that needed clarification. Students contributed 149 comments, mostly as answers in response to thirteen posts of exercises over three months. All users of the blog who responded to a questionnaire considered it useful, and most of them expressed the opinion that blogs should be used in other courses. The main reason that students reported for not using the blog was lack of time. Statistically significant differences in examination performance existed between students who used the blog and those who did not. Based on these findings, the blog achieved its purposes, which were to enhance instructor communication with students and provide students with practice exercises to improve their understanding of dental terminology. Further research about the application of blogging and its potential to enhance dental education is needed.