Perspective of Senior Dental Students About the Priorities for Instructor Evaluation

Background and Aim: Regular evaluation of the efficiency of instructors is highly important to promote the quality of instruction. This study aimed to assess the perspective of senior dental students about the priorities that must be considered in instructor evaluation. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, the significance of instructor assessment from the viewpoint of 132 senior dental students was evaluated in five domains of teaching skills, personal characteristics and skills, communication skills, adherence to educational regulations, and assessment skills. The frequency of the overall significance of each item and the domains as well as the effect of demographic and socioeconomic factors on the results were analyzed by Chi-square test.&nbsp; Results: 84.4% of students believed that instructor assessment was important. Teaching skills acquired the highest score (90.6%), followed by communication skills (89.4%), personal characteristics and skills (83.8%), and educational regulations (70.9%) with statistically significant differences (P<0.0001). Students gave the highest score to the teaching method (98.5%), followed by the ability to well discuss the topic, conveying the topic, and mastery of the content (96.2%). The lowest score was given to the adherence to the order of educational contents set by the educational committee (42%) and to the usefulness of homework (49%). No significant association was noted between gender, age, grade point average (GPA), the parents' occupation, or interest in dentistry as a profession with the students' opinions about the instructor assessment form and the five domains (P=0.2). Conclusion: Educational workshops may enhance the teaching and communication skills of instructors, may increase the satisfaction of students with the instructors' performance and may yield greater educational achievements. &nbsp;