DOI: 10.36347/sjds.2015.v02i07.001

Pages: 388-392

Abstract: Wiki’s, blogs and podcasts are identified as web 2.0 technologies that are highly used by medical professionals. The present study aimed to explore the potential use of web 2.0 technologies and their advantages by undergraduate dental students at Kerman (Iran) University of Medical Sciences during 2010-2013. This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 259 undergraduate dental students. Data was collected by using a questionnaire. The questionnaires were divided in three main sections: in section 1, participants were invited to fill in their demographic information. Then, in section 2 they were asked to rate their use of web 2.0 technologies according to a list of 7 pre-specified technologies, and in sections 3, participants were invited to rate the application of web 2.0 technologies in education, research, entertainment and communication accordingly. For the data analysis, we prepared a datasheet in SPSS version 21.0. In the results showed that Students mostly obtained the information through web search engines like Google (90%), scientific databases like PubMed (29%), web URLs (20%) and the libraries’ websites (8%) accordingly. Only 7% of the dentistry students knew the concept of web 2.0 inclusively, 27% were almost familiar with the concept and 66% had no information about the web 2.0 technologies. In conclusion According to our findings, social networks and media sharing services are the most frequently used services by dental students of Kerman (Iran) University of Medical Sciences.