Resumo

CUNHA-ARAUJO, Ivana Maria Zaccara; SALAZAR-SILVA, Juan Ramon; D'ASSUNCAO, Fábio Luiz Cunha  e  MELO, Ângelo Brito Pereira de. Assessing how endodontics students perceive the Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle) with the COLLES self-assessment questionnaire. Rev. ABENO [online]. 2012, vol.12, n.2, pp. 163-169. ISSN 1679-5954.

The discipline of Endodontics I taught at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) introduced the Learning Management System by Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle) as of the class of 2008 (1st sem.). When students finish the course, they are required to answer to a self-assessment questionnaire available in the Moodle environment. The aim of this study was to analyze the results of the COLLES (Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey) questionnaire-an "effective experience" type questionnaire-applied to the 57 students from the classes of 2008 (2nd sem.) and 2009 (1st sem.) of the discipline of Endodontics I. COLLES evaluates the quality of the learning process in the virtual environment, according to the following perceptions: Professional Relevance, Reflective Thinking, Interactivity, Cognitive Demand, Affective Support and Interpretation of Meaning. Based on the answers, tables were constructed with results in numbers that were later analyzed quantitatively. The results indicated a high relevance rate, in that 73.6% of the students reported that what they learned was important to professional practice, and 68.4% reported having improved their own performance. In relation to Reflective Thinking, 41% of the subjects frequently reflect critically on the subject content, and 43.8% reflect on how their learning process is developing. The interactivity among the students was considered poor, because only a small proportion (21%) was willing to explain their ideas to other participants. As for Cognitive Demand, students were often encouraged to reflect and engage in participation. In relation to Affective Support, there was a low frequency of acknowledgment and valuation of the contributions offered. The students were frequently found to understand the messages of participants (50.8%) and tutors (57.8%). Based on the results of the present research, it was concluded that, for the Virtual Learning Environment to be best taken advantage of, it is necessary to encourage support among students and interaction of their ideas.

Palavras-chave : Education, Distance; Teaching Materials; Teaching; Dental Education; Endodontics.