Faculty members' perception of the challenges and prospects of online learning in dental institutes in India during the COVID-19 pandemic scenario

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the impact and challenges of emergency remote teaching faced by the dental faculty during the first and the second wave of COVID-19 in India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive questionnaire study was carried out consisting of two surveys. Data for the first questionnaire was recruited from 135 faculty members engaged in online teaching and comprised details about sociodemographic, designation, teaching experience, online teaching practices, perceptions, and challenges faced by the faculty members during online teaching during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India. Categorical variables were reported as counts and percentages. Group comparisons were made with the Chi-square test. The same participants were given the second questionnaire to access their efficacy in overcoming the challenges faced by them during the second wave. Results: 54.8% of the participants were female. 46.7% of respondents were Professors by designation. Variation was evident for the personal, technical, financial barriers and challenges caused by students' attitude with designation as a variable. 67.4% of the participants devoted extra time to prepare their lectures. 62.2% of the faculty faced network issues. 53.3% of the faculty reported increased expenditure on data. Maximum challenges were seen in the category based on students' attitude which deteriorated the quality of the lectures. 74.1% of the teachers agreed that online teaching was better for theoretical learning. There was not much difference observed in the response regarding personal barriers among faculty members with gender as a variable in the first wave, but notable differences were seen for technical barriers, especially lack of formal training. During second-wave study, Internet connectivity still remained a barrier. Conclusion: Challenges faced by the faculty members regarding online learning decreased in the second wave as compared to the first wave, but network connectivity and students' attitude remained an issue. Scope of theoretical online teaching was perceived to be better as compared to practical teaching.