Audience and Presenter Comparison of Live Web‐Based Lectures and Traditional Classroom Lectures During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Purpose The purpose of the study was to assess participants’ and presenters’ perceptions of a live web‐based lecture series in comparison to traditional in‐person lectures. Materials and Methods A virtual lecture series was organized by the——‐from March 25th until June 3rd of 2020. Twenty‐five postgraduate prosthodontics programs and 81 presenters participated. Two surveys were developed and distributed to the audience (N = 330) and the presenters (N = 81). Follow‐up emails were sent one week, three weeks, and four weeks after the initial email survey to encourage its completion. The data were analyzed descriptively. One‐way ANOVA (p = 0.05), followed by a post hoc test, were used to compare the response percentages among the different generations of presenters and participants. Results Fifty‐two percent of participants, and 65% of presenters, completed the survey. More than 96% of participants and presenters were satisfied with the lecture series. Seventy‐nine percent of audience members felt that the live web‐based lectures were as effective as traditional classroom lectures, or more effective; 32% of presenters agreed. Millennial audience members had significantly (p = 0.0028) more negative responses than the other generations. Conclusion Participants have more positive perceptions of web‐based lectures than presenters.