Undergraduate dental students’ perceptions of team-teaching: A Malaysian experience on cross-professional preclinical education

Limited research has been conducted to determine how undergraduate dental students perceive team-teaching, especially when involving teachers from other allied dental professions. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine students’ perceptions of team-teaching in a preclinical dental materials science course. The current laboratory dental materials practical session was carried out for the second-year undergraduate dental students. The session was conducted solely by a dental technology lecturer in the dental technology laboratory. Students attended lectures on commonly used laboratory-based dental materials before the session comprising seven teaching and learning stations. 19 close-ended questions using 5-point Likert Scales to assess 4 domains (perception of learning, teacher, learning environment, and preference of learning) including 2 open-ended questions were administered at the end of the session. Mean scores for each questionnaire item were analysed, whereas content analysis was performed for open-ended responses. The respondent rate was 100% (n = 68). Mean scores for domains 1, 2, 3, and 4 ranged from 4.35–4.69, 4.63–4.87, 4.53–4.69, and 2.93–3.74, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha value for all the questionnaire items was 0.85, while confirmatory factor analysis scores for all domains were >0.7, with 2 items being removed. Based on the open-ended responses, students enjoyed the communication between the teacher and students and wished to have more hands-on activity. Students generally showed positive perceptions towards their learning, teacher, and learning environment, despite showing mixed preference towards team-teaching. Additional research is required to evaluate teachers’ and policymakers’ perspectives as well as the impact of team-teaching on students' academic performance. Se han realizado una investigación limitada para determinar cómo perciben los estudiantes de odontología de pregrado la enseñanza en equipo, especialmente cuando involucra a docentes de otras profesiones dentales afines. Por lo tanto, el presente estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre la enseñanza en equipo en un curso de ciencia de materiales dentales preclínicos. La sesión práctica actual de materiales dentales de laboratorio se llevó a cabo para los estudiantes de odontología de segundo año. La sesión fue conducida únicamente por un docente de tecnología dental en el laboratorio de tecnología dental. Los estudiantes asisti