Evaluation of the Achievement of Educational Objectives in Restorative Dentistry and Periodontics Departments in Zahedan Faculty of Dentistry during 2014-2015

Evaluation is an ongoing process, which leads to understanding and improvement of learning, and also signifies the changes that are necessary to achieve the educational objectives. Regarding this, the present study aimed to evaluate the capabilities of the dental students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran, by investigating their viewpoints regarding the achievement of the educational objectives of the theoretical and practical courses of periodontics and restorative dentistry within the academic year of 2014-2015.
This cross-sectional descriptive analytical study was conducted on 100 dentistry students that had passed all the theoretical and practical units of the restorative dentistry and periodontology during 2014- 2015. For the purpose of data collection, two questionnaires were designed for each of the periodontology and restorative courses. The reliabilities of the periodontology and restoration questionnaires were 0.9 (CVR= 0.9 and CVI= 0.9) and 0.8 (CVR= 0.8, CVI= 0.8), respectively.
The mean scores of the students’ self-perceived capability in terms of achieving the objectives of the periodontology course demonstrated that 5%, 30%, 56%, and 9% of the students reported to achieve the educational objectives at excellent, good, medium, and poor levels, respectively. Regarding the restorative dentistry course, these rates were found to be 17 %, 39 %, 34%, and 10% for the respective levels.
As the results of the present study indicated, from the students’ perspectives, their capabilities to achieve the educational goals were not at a favorable level. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of the students in each course of restoration and periodontology, it seems that the associated educational programs need to be reviewed in order to correct the related deficiencies.