“Smartphone as an educational tool” the perception of dental faculty members of all the dental colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract Background With the increasing advancement in the field of information technology, it’s about time we realize that our future will be shaped by this field. With more and more people using smartphones, we need to adapt them to the medical field. Already many advancements in medical field are done thanks to the advancement of computer science. But we need to implement this into our teaching and learning as well. Almost all students and faculty members use smartphones in one way or another if we can utilize the smartphone to enhance the learning opportunities for our medical students, it would greatly benefit them. But before the implementation, we need to find out if our faculty is willing to adopt this technology. The objective of this study is to find out what are the perceptions of dental faculty members about using a smartphone as a teaching tool. Methodology A validated questionnaire was distributed among the faculty members of all the dental colleges of KPK. The questionnaire had 2 sections. First one contains information regarding the demographics. The second one had questions related to the faculty members’ perception regarding using a smartphone as a teaching tool. Results The results of our study showed that the faculty (Mean 2.08) had positive perceptions regarding using a smartphone as a teaching tool. Conclusion Most of the Dental Faculty members of KPK agree that smartphone can be used as a teaching tool, and it can have better outcomes if proper applications and teaching strategies are used.