Computer literacy and attitudes among students in 16 European dental schools: current aspects, regional differences and future trends.

Full Abstract

A questionnaire survey was carried out to investigate the competence and attitude of dental students towards computers. The current study presents the findings deriving from 590 questionnaires collected from 16 European dental schools from 9 countries between October 1998 and October 1999. The results suggest that 60% of students use computers for their education, while 72% have access to the Internet. The overall figures, however, disguise major differences between the various universities. Students in Northern and Western Europe seem to rely mostly on university facilities to access the Internet. The same however, is not true for students in Greece and Spain, who appear to depend on home computers. Less than half the students have been exposed to some form of computer literacy education in their universities, with the great majority acquiring their competence in other ways. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills of the average dental student, within this limited sample of dental schools, do not facilitate full use of new media available. In addition, if the observed regional differences are valid, there may be an educational and political problem that could intensify inequalities among professionals in the future. To minimize this potential problem, closer cooperation between academic institutions, with sharing of resources and expertise, is recommended.

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Author information

Author/s: Mattheos, N (N); Nattestad, A (A); Schittek, M (M); Attström, R (R);

Affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Centre for Oral Health Sciences, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Multicenter Study; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (Eur J Dent Educ), published in Denmark. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Feb; vol 6 (issue 1) : pp 30-5

Dates: Created 2002/03/01; Completed 2002/06/19; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 11872071, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Forecasting
Humans
Information Science - education; organization & administration; trends
Internet
Male
Microcomputers
Questionnaires
Schools, Dental
Students, Dental

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