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Self-reported adaptability among postgraduate dental
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learners and their instructors: accelerated change induced
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by COVID-19
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Short title: Self-reported adaptability of learners and instructors during COVID-19
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Farah Otaki
1¶
, Fatemeh Amir-Rad
2,3¶
, Manal Al-Halabi
2*
, Zaid Baqain
2,4
, Nabil Zary
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5
1
Strategy and Institutional Excellence, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and
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Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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2
Hamdan Bin Mohammed College of Dental Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of
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Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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3
Masters in Medical Education Programme, Centre for Medical Education, School of
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Medicine, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee, United Kingdom.
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4
School of Dentistry, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
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5
Institute for Excellence in Health Professions Education, Mohammed Bin Rashid University
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of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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*Corresponding Author:
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All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted June 7, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.05.21258401doi: medRxiv preprint
NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.
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Manal Al-Halabi
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Email: manal.halabi@mbru.ac.ae
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21
¶
These authors contributed equally to this work.
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23
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All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted June 7, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.05.21258401doi: medRxiv preprint
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Abstract
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It is forecasted that the skills and competencies necessary for post-pandemic success in
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higher education need to be founded upon adaptability, coping, and Self-regulated Learning
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(SRL). It is worth investigating how stakeholders perceived their adaptability and coping
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with the accelerated change accompanying COVID-19. Accordingly, the purpose of this
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study was to assess the self-reported adaptability of postgraduate dental learners and their
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instructors in the context of abrupt transition to distance learning induced by the pandemic.
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This study utilized a convergent mixed methods study design. The qualitative and
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quantitative data were concurrently collected from instructors and learners. The datasets were
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analyzed independently, and the generated information was integrated using a joint model
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analysis.
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The percentage of average of self-reported adaptability of both groups was 81.15%. The
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instructors, with a mean of satisfaction of 17.94 (±1.76), rated their adaptability significantly
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higher than the learners, with a mean of satisfaction of 15.66 (±2.77) (p=0.002). The thematic
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analysis resulted in two interrelated themes: Self and Environment. Within the Self theme,
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three subthemes surfaced: Cognitions, Emotions, Behaviors. As for the Environment theme,
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it encapsulated two subthemes: Enablers and Impediments.
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The stakeholders perceived themselves to have adapted well to the transition, and SRL
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appeared as a cornerstone in the adaptation to the accelerated change (accompanying
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COVID-19). There appeared to be an interplay between the cognitions, emotions, and
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behaviors on the level of the self as part of the adaptation process. Also, building upon
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existent models of SRL, this study uncovered that the stakeholders considered the
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environment to play a crucial role in their adaptation process. This highlights the importance
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All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted June 7, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.05.21258401doi: medRxiv preprint
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of developing a climate that remains, despite external pressures, conducive to attaining
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learning and teaching goals. It is also crucial for university-level mental health promotion
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activities to proactively foster, among learners and instructors, adaptability, building
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‘academic resilience’.
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Keywords:
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Postgraduate; Dental Education; Distance Learning; COVID-19 Pandemic; Change
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Management; Accelerated Change; Adaptability; Self-regulated Learning.
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All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted June 7, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.05.21258401doi: medRxiv preprint
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Introduction
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The COVID-19 pandemic made characterizing today’s world as Volatile, Uncertain,
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Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) more relevant than ever before (1-3). This pandemic
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brought about an accelerated change where remote interaction became the only plausible
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solution at a point in time. The need to “go remote” at the onset of the pandemic accelerated
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innovation in telecommunication. It brought to the forefront the previously underused
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internet-based services and products, such as telehealth (4), e-commerce (5), and distance
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learning (6).
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This accelerated change was evident in higher education (6), where learning and teaching all
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around the world had to switch to the online environment abruptly (7). The volatility of the
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environment got heightened due to the continuous changes that this sector is having to keep
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up with (8). This is associated with uncertainty. Although a lot of research and investigations
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are taking place to enable foresight (9), no one knows with any great certainty the current and
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long-term effect of the pandemic on learning and teaching. The situation has been novel and
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seemingly uncontrollable and remains unresolved (10). The introduced complexity has been
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evident on all socioecological levels of higher education, where stakeholders need to deal
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with diverse stressors (including but not limited to: safety concerns, sense of isolation and
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loneliness, and complete disruption of daily routines), along with mental health difficulties
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such as isolation and loneliness (10), and depression and anxiety (11). Since these times are
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unprecedented, there is a substantial amount of ambiguity that all the higher education
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stakeholders need to deal with (11); everyone appears to be resorting to trial-and-error
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techniques to adapt (12).
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All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted June 7, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.05.21258401doi: medRxiv preprint
