Dental students’ learning attitudes and perceptions of YouTube as a lecture video hosting platform in a flipped classroom in Korea

Purpose The aim of this study was to confirm the applicability of YouTube as a delivery platform of lecture videos for dental students and to assess their learning attitudes towards the flipped classroom model. Methods Learning experiences after using the YouTube platform to deliver preliminary video lectures in a flipped classroom were assessed by 69 second-year students (52 males, 17 females) at Dankook University College of Dentistry, Korea, who attended periodontology lectures during 2 consecutive semesters of the 2016 academic year. The instructor uploaded the lecture videos to YouTube before each class. At the end of the second semester, the students were surveyed using a questionnaire devised by the authors. Results Of the students, 53 (76.8%) always watched the lecture before the class, 48 (69.6%) used their smartphones, and 66 (95.7%) stated that they watched the lectures at home. The majority of the students replied that the video lectures were easier to understand than face to face lectures (82.6%) and that they would like to view the videos again after graduation (73.9%). Conclusion Our results indicate that YouTube is an applicable platform to deliver video lectures and to expose students to increased learning opportunities.