Currently, the South African health sector is undergoing significant changes, which include transforming the education and training of medical and dental professionals and workers. As of 1999, dental professionals will be required to participate in continuing education courses for re-certification and reorientation purposes.

In light of this, continuing education is becoming a high priority for all health professionals, as well as for the institutions and organizations that provide health education and training. To this end, the Faculty of Dentistry at Stellenbosch University is preparing itself to offer courses which will contribute to and support dental professionals’ ongoing professional development. Its long-term plans include offering Master’s course in Dental Public Health through distance education in the year 2000.

Against this background, the Division of Distance Education at Stellenbosch University offered the Faculty of Dentistry the use of satellite transmission facilities to provide continuing education courses to dentists across South Africa.

Following from this, the Department of Community Dentistry at Stellenbosch University, together with the University’s Division of Distance Education and Log-Tek, piloted a satellite seminar series for dentists across South Africa, which ran from 14th October to 18th November 1998. At the Department of Community Dentistry’s request, SAIDE agreed to provide some limited formative evaluation of the institution’s educational use of satellite broadcasting.

Dental professionals from across the country participated in this satellite seminar series. Lessons were broadcast from the main studio in Cape Town to ten sites around South Africa. These one-way broadcasting sessions were accessed on large television screens.

In addition, local sites were equipped with VSAT antennae to enable them to maintain two-way audio and data channels. Interaction between learners and lecturers was thus enabled through use of interactive audio communication (speech) and the data communication technologies. Touch-tone telephones were used to allow learners to register questions and – when prompted by the lecturer - to direct questions to the lecturer in the main studio. Use of visual and other aids during lessons - such as slides, photographs, and graphics – was supported by MS PowerPoint presentation software.

The experience was a new one for lecturers and dental professionals alike. Responses from participants indicated a high level of interest in the programme as a whole. Participants were also generally positive about delivery strategies, as well as the content of sessions.

Dentists, in particular, indicated that they like the idea of refresher courses by distance education, as it allows them the opportunity to update their knowledge in line with new developments in the field, without this impacting adversely on their work obligations. One participant expressed this view as follows: ‘It allows me to update on current knowledge that interests me without disrupting my appointment schedule’.

Others, however, said that the newness of the technology will take some time getting used to. Some participants indicated that they were embarrassed to use the telephones, while others felt that the process was a bit cumbersome and almost too impersonal.

The use of satellite technologies was clearly a new experience for lecturers as well, although some felt more confident than others about their ability to use the technology. A lecturer remarked: ‘The medium was new to me, I really think I shall need a bit more experience/ knowledge in this medium, before I could use it optimally’.

Responses from lecturers point clearly to the different demands that an educational initiative of this nature makes on lecturers compared to traditional face-to-face contact sessions. Thus the main concerns that lecturers had were about staff development, training, and support.

There appeared to have been some problems with the technology at a practical level, though these were not intrinsic to technology choice. Rather, they related to problems of sites not receiving broadcasts and problems with Telkom lines. One evening, for example, there were problems with Telkom lines which meant that no feedback was possible. This, of course, raised the important issues of the need to develop strategies for receiving feedback from students, both during and after the programme, as well as providing support for learners.

Lecturers and learners alike raised some concerns around interaction, feedback, and support during and after sessions. It was suggested that the possibilities of designing other types of support resources, including printed resources, be explored. The possibility of using the Internet to facilitate this type of learning was also suggested. Such explorations should take into account the design requirements generated by using different technologies, in an effort to establish whether or not certain educational strategies will be viable.

SAIDE’s team members were not able to analyse in detail whether or not learners attained any identified learning outcomes as a consequence of the programme and its delivery strategies, nor were we able to conduct any financial analysis of the relative benefits of applying the selected technologies. These are areas where further research will unquestionably be required, particularly if distance education students will be on par with their counterparts on the main campus - both in terms of academic and administrative interaction.

It is hoped that SAIDE’s input on issues of learner support, relative accessibility of learning experiences, and learner interaction - all with direct reference to ways in which the technologies were harnessed
- will provide some formative input in support of the conceptualization, design, and implementation of distance education strategies that may be used by the Dental Faculty during 1999 and beyond.