Effect of mobile learning on academic achievement and attitude of Sudanese dental students: a preliminary study

BACKGROUND: Despite the great development of smart phone programs and applications, and the wide-spread of these devices among students, their use for the educational purposes remains weak. The study aimed to investigate to what extent utilizing mobile learning as an adjunct to classic classroom lectures affect students’ academic achievement and, to assess their attitude toward using mobile application as an instructional method in dental education. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among undergraduate dental students from two Sudanese universities. A total of 67 students who voluntarily agreed to participate were randomly allocated into a control group of 33 and an intervention group of 34 students. Initially, the two groups undertook a pre-test to ensure the standardization of a scale regarding their existing academic knowledge of dental surgery forceps used for tooth extraction. Then the intervention group was provided with a mobile application (Dental Surgical Forceps application version 2.1.0.0), and 3 weeks later a post-test was given for both groups. The attitude of the students toward the effectiveness of mobile learning was as assessed by five-point Likert scale questionnaire. For comparison of the numerical parametric data, a T. test was used, while for non-parametric categorical data a Chi-Squire test was used, with level of statistical significant difference set at P-value of ≤0.05. RESULTS: The response rate was 91% for the intervention group (31 out of 34 students completed the study), and 78% for the control group (26 out of 33 students completed the study). Statistical significant difference was observed between the pretest and post-test mean scores of the intervention group (P < 0.005), while the differences were not significant among the control group (P > 0.05). Regarding the attitude of the dental students, the mean scores of the sample indicate that the vast majority of the participants (93.5%) showed positive attitude regarding the effectiveness of mobile learning. CONCLUSIONS: There is a marked difference in the students’ scores regarding their knowledge of dental surgical forceps. The students showed positive attitude toward using the mobile application. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-021-02509-x.