# App‐Supported Assessment of Clinical Courses for Dental Students: Discrepancies between Self‐Assessment and Instructor Assessment

## TL;DR

This study finds that dental students' self-assessments align closely with instructors' evaluations in clinical courses.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel app-based method to compare self-assessment and instructor assessment in dental education.

## Key findings

- Self-assessments by students showed predominantly neutral differences compared to instructor evaluations.
- No significant discrepancies were found across four key clinical criteria over four semesters.
- Student self-assessments were largely aligned with instructor assessments in dental clinical courses.

## Abstract

From a student's perspective, assessment plays a central role in education and is essential in a university setting. Developing accurate self‐assessment, without over‐ or underestimating one's abilities, requires practice and is often misaligned with actual skills. This study examines the gap between student self‐assessments and instructors' assessments in everyday dental courses, focusing on overestimation, underestimation, and accurate self‐assessment.

The app “digital course organizer” for organization and assessment was used to compare self‐assessment and instructor evaluation (student and teacher) for each day of patient treatment at a university hospital. Data were collected over four semesters from 309 students resulting in a total of 15312 dual assessments. These were analyzed for tendencies toward overestimation, underestimation, or neutral assessment. Discrepancies between student self‐assessments and evaluations by instructors were examined across four key criteria i) quality of treatment; ii) support from the teaching doctor; iii) theoretical knowledge and iv) professional appearance and organization.

The statistical results across all assessments showed a predominantly neutral difference between the assessment outcomes of students and instructors. Further statistical analysis of the differences in assessment results between clinical courses showed no significant differences (p ≥ 0.128).

The results demonstrated a predominantly neutral correlation between students' self‐assessments and the assessments provided by instructors in dental clinical courses. The findings indicate that students' self‐assessments were largely aligned with those of the instructors, showing no significant discrepancies between student expectations and instructor assessment.