ICT Proficiency of Dental Students in Sri Lanka

The Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya has been conducting formal introductory courses in ICT for undergraduates at their entry level. Although senior students do not get an opportunity for ICT education they will be required to perform tasks such as assignments, reports, referencing using ICT tools.

Dental undergraduate students’ proficiency in ICT was tested on randomly selected groups from three senior batches. Total performance of  all  students  tested showed  that  the  MCQ  score (53.4, SD 8.0)  has  exceeded  the  pass  mark  and  practical  test  (44.0, SD 7.2)  has recorded well below. Individual tests on the Practical components also showed that students were extremely weak in Excel (8.1, SD 2.2) and well below passmark in Word (16.9, SD 2.9) and Powerpoint (19.0, SD 5.3) tasks.

This indicates that considering the basic nature of the questions in this ICT proficiency test, students have displayed a low level of skill in the practical component. However the total aggregate for the overall student performance (48.8, SD 5.4) has recorded just below the pass mark of 50%. These results reiterate the need for development of a formal supplementary training course in ICT for students in senior batches in the Faculty of Dental Sciences.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljbmi.v2i3.3796

Sri Lanka Journal of Bio-Medical Informatics 2011;2(3):107-111