Sk Rezwan Shihab's Doctoral Dissertation

The Impact of Hands-On Digital Technology Experience on Self-Efficacy: A Comparative Study of Preservice Teachers and Predoctoral Dental Students

Digital technologies have reshaped professional practice in both classroom education and dentistry, yet preprofessional training remains heavily lecture-based, leaving students doubtful of their ability to use them. Drawing on Bandura's (1997) self-efficacy theory, Miller's (1990) Pyramid of Clinical Competence, and transfer of learning theory, this study examined whether hands-on experience with 3D printing develops technological self-efficacy more effectively than theoretical instruction alone, and whether that self-efficacy transfers to professional self-efficacy.

This research used two combined single-group repeated-measures studies. Study 1 recruited 52 preservice teachers in two mathematics methods courses, surveyed before and after a design-and-print module. Study 2 included 35 first-year predoctoral dental students, surveyed before instruction, after a lecture on 3D printing in dentistry, and after a hands-on session. Analyses included paired-samples t-tests, repeated-measures ANOVA, correlations of change scores, hierarchical regression, and Fisher's r-to-z comparisons.

Both cohorts improved significantly in 3D printing self-efficacy. In Study 2, theoretical instruction alone produced no gain that survived correction for multiple comparisons, while roughly two-thirds of the total development occurred during the hands-on phase. Clinical self-efficacy rose only after that phase; patient communication self-efficacy never changed. Among preservice teachers, gains in 3D printing self-efficacy correlated strongly with gains in mathematics teaching self-efficacy (r = .71), and post-intervention 3D printing self-efficacy explained an additional 21% of the variance beyond baseline. The corresponding correlation for dental students was weak and non-significant (r = .20), and the difference between cohorts was significant (Z = 2.96, p = .003).

Transfer of technological self-efficacy to professional practice is therefore conditional, depending on the strength of mastery experience in the home domain, experience in the target domain, and the relevance of the shared element across both. Preprofessional curricula should include substantial hands-on technology training, positioned alongside the professional skills it is intended to support.