Piloting Online “Think Aloud” Sessions to Support Clinical Learning During the Pandemic

Online clinical teaching can result in significant challenges for students and faculty. Online demonstrations of clinical skills may not adequately convey and share the underlying thought process seen in face-to-face sessions. For this study, an online activity was developed and piloted to enhance clinical teaching of border moulding for a complete denture. In the first session, an expert described a clinical dental procedure in a “think aloud” format to a group of 35 students with images and videos, and a procedural guide was provided. Second session was held a week later in a small-group format, whereby students described steps in the procedure using a think aloud format back to a facilitator who, in turn, provided individual feedback. Amongst the students who responded to the feedback questionnaire, 91% found the activity to be acceptable and effective. From the open comments provided by the students and facilitators, key areas of improvement were identified for the think aloud activity, namely, the need for prior training, the existing gap in think aloud capabilities and the need for post-session assessment, leading to the development of a workflow to be implemented in future. It can be concluded that the transferability of the think aloud activity for clinical teaching in other health professions is worth considering.