A study at the Faculty of Dentistry investigates the impact of an online restorative dentistry course on graduate learning outcomes.

 Restorative dentistry plays a crucial role in the practice of dentistry, necessitating professionals to keep up with the latest developments in the field. Technological advances have made “online learning” a widely used method of delivering education in dentistry, providing learners with wide-ranging information with great flexibility.

In this context,a scientific study was conducted at the Faculty of Dentistry at Damascus University in cooperation with the Virtual University entitled “The Effect of an Online Restorative Dentistry Course on the Learning Outcomes of Dental Graduates: a Pre-experimental Study.”This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an online educational course in restorative dentistry for dental graduates in Syria.

This study used a pre-test and post-test to measure changes in participants' knowledge and skills after 21 dental graduates completed the online training course in restorative dentistry, which was uploaded to the Syrian Virtual University's Moodle system.

The results of the study showed a significant improvement in participants' knowledge of restorative dentistry, supported by a statistically significant P value of less than 0.05. The effect size of the difference between the pre-test and the post-test indicated a significant difference of 62.1% between the pre-test and the post-test.

93% (n = 19) of the participants expressed confidence that they would receive the expected benefits from the course upon completion, and that there was a significant improvement in participants’ understanding of restorative dentistry. The high rate of participants satisfaction and positive comments from the course acceptance questionnaire confirm the positive acceptance of online learning approach.

This study highlights the potential of online learning in dental education, opening the door to future research in this field. The results of this study have important implications for the design and implementation of online educational programs in dentistry, suggesting that such programs can serve as an effective tool for continuous professional development.