The COVID‐19 pandemic: Opportunity for integration of educational technology
Authors: Zach Moore, Jake Stallard, Ashley Tittemore, Jessica Y. Lee
Published in: Journal of Dental Education (2020-07-27)

The coronavirus pandemic has become a worldwide crisis. As dental schools rapidly chart a path forward, they face the challenges of preparing dental students through strictly online education. In the span of 3 weeks, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Adams School of Dentistry shifted from in-person learning to a completely virtual learning environment in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). On March 12, students were notified that spring break would be extended, originally March 16−20, to March 30. On March 17, UNC announced all in-person instruction would transition online with campus reduced operations, complicating training for faculty and staff. The extension of the break allowed Academic Affairs, in collaboration with the Academic Support Center (ASC), a team designed to support teaching and learning, to build critical systems, and create and share resources to support online education. While preparing for the transition, ASC and the office of Computer Information Systems experienced a surge in urgent tasks and responsibilities, posing a challenge of adequacy of human resources. Limited personnel were asked to provide support to all faculty and students transitioning to online education, including distributing equipment; providing training; creating resources; creating Zoom sessions; managing recordings, remote testing, and proctoring; and troubleshooting and responding to urgent issues. The ASC team focused on 2 goals: designing systems and resources for online education, while maintaining compliance with the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). Faculty was surveyed to determine training needs (Table 1). Facilitating and recording live virtual meetings, Zoom and Echo360, software minimally used by the school, were maximally used. By March 15, CODA announced a requirement for testing to include identity verification and online proctoring. The current secure testing solution ExamN, by AllofE in the eMedley suite, contained an option for online proctoring called eProctor. The team assessed the product and alternatives for compliance. eProctor was selected and implemented with the first examination on April 1. Spring didactic courses for the DDS program concluded April 17, including online final exams. Faculty, staff, and students rose to the occasion in response to the sudden transition to online education. Substantial training, resources, communication, and support were provided to optimize teaching and learning in this new remote environment. COVID response teams were created to identify and address the experiences and challenges faced by faculty, staff, and students. Surveys captured feedback and identified pain points, including connectivity and learning management system (LMS) optimization issues (Tables 2 and 3). Following the spring semester, the ASC team transitioned its efforts to supporting faculty in online summer course delivery. Continued training was provided to highlight best practices in remote instruction and enhance faculty capacity to use educational technology to ensure robust and engaging educational experiences for students. Improvements included expanding asynchronous instruction through use of pre-recorded content and making changes to Zoom administration, streamlining the creation and recording of meetings, and provision of technical support. The school continues to evaluate the effectiveness of technology and instruction to maximize student learning during this pandemic.