Use of information and communication technology amongst New Zealand dental students

Although international studies have shown an increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) amongst dental students, there are no published studies specific to New Zealand (NZ). The aim of this research was to identify device ownership and academic utilisation patterns amongst New Zealand dental students, including preferences and perceptions, and barriers to use. All currently enrolled dental students (322) were invited to complete a 15-item questionnaire. Data were statistically analysed in SPSS version 20.0. Qualitative data were analysed using a general inductive technique. The participation rate was 78.6% (N = 253 of 322). The majority of respondents personally owned laptop computers (98%) and smartphones (80.2%). A total of 10.8% of participants used a desktop computer everyday for academic purposes, whilst 78.7% used a laptop computer daily, and 54.7% a smartphone. New Zealand dental students demonstrated a high usage of ICT for their coursework with varied use of different online resources. The most frequently used online resources were search engines, social networking sites and lecture slides provided on Blackboard(®) . A high perceived value was placed on both audio podcasts and video podcasts despite the high value also placed on the traditional lectures. Although most participants (84.5%) felt that their ICT knowledge was adequate to meet academic requirements, a small number (1.6%) did not agree.