Challenges and strategies adopted in dental education during COVID-19 pandemic: An institutionalized experience

Abstract

The unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has significantly affected the curriculum delivery and clinical dental practice in dental schools. Many dental schools across the globe were temporarily closed to prevent the spread of the virus. On 18^th  March 2020, Malaysia for the first time declared a total lockdown resulting in switching to an online learning platform with live lectures,live interactive sessions, online group discussions, pre-recorded theoretical lectures, case presentations, and electronic learning tutorials. In addition, all elective dental treatment was deferred, and only emergency dental procedures were carried out with strict standard operating procedures (SOPs).  The dental curriculum across the dental schools are similar with regard to their contents, however, each dental school has had its own modification of the educational process with regard to Teaching and learning methodology. The common statergy   adopted by all dental school was  the cease of practical and clinical sessions, and the introduction of online teaching-learning activities.  At Faculty of Dentistry SEGi University, we addressed some of the challenges that encompass various dimensions of teaching-learning and safety of students,and  concurrently bringing in an innovative student-centric approach to education and their well-being. This paper aims to provide insight into the various challenges encountered during this pandemic, strategies adopted to overcome them at our institution, and a brief insight into future opportunities in teaching and learning in dental education.