ADEE SIG Feedback: Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe in the Assessment of Dental Students?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a growing phenomenon which is likely to facilitate wholesale multi-faceted changes in the healthcare professions, including dentistry. In dental education, AI has already made fundamental and irreversible changes  to many aspects of dental student assessment.

For dental educators to be properly prepared for the advent of AI, teachers will need to be well versed and well prepared with its potential role in learning and teaching, and the extent to which it will impact on student education (Master’s, 2019). In this fast-moving arena, an improved understanding of AI is needed to enable dental students and their teachers to adapt to these changes effectively, both within and beyond dental education (Saghiri, Vakhnovetsky, Nadershahi, 2022).

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a growing phenomenon which is likely to facilitate wholesale multi-faceted changes in the healthcare professions, including dentistry. In dental education, AI has already made fundamental and irreversible changes  to many aspects of dental student assessment.

For dental educators to be properly prepared for the advent of AI, teachers will need to be well versed and well prepared with its potential role in learning and teaching, and the extent to which it will impact on student education (Master’s, 2019). In this fast-moving arena, an improved understanding of AI is needed to enable dental students and their teachers to adapt to these changes effectively, both within and beyond dental education (Saghiri, Vakhnovetsky, Nadershahi, 2022).

Following on from the well-received and successful SIG formats adopted  in previous years, a similar approach will be used  as follows:  
A) A bespoke questionnaire will be completed by  ADEE Educators to determine their:

1. demographic details, knowledge and experience of AI,
2. perceptions of how  student assessment will change with the use of AI , and
3. potential apprehensions and concerns with  the use of AI.

The questionnaire will be distributed through the ADEE office and via social media sites specifically linked to ADEE.

Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected from attending delegates during the proposed SIG at the ADEE conference 2024 through a series of themed Focus Groups. Three themed focus groups will investigate:

1. The levels of knowledge Dental Educators have about AI and how this approach could be more widely adopted to facilitate dental student assessment and learning
2. The main concerns Dental Educators have about AI and how these can be mitigated.
3. How the assessment of dental students could be designed and delivered to obviate the potential adverse impacts of AI       

The analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data will be undertaken using descriptive and thematic approaches, respectively.