Evaluation of online game-based and traditional teaching methods in cephalometric landmarks identifications

•A novel online game-based teaching method for cephalometric tracing was evaluated. •Available teaching approaches for cephalometric tracing were fully compared. •Educational gamification improved the performance and learning experience of students. •Game-based teaching is a possible solution to distance learning for cephalometric tracing. Introduction Orthodontic students need to accurately identify cephalometric landmarks to perform cephalometric measurements, which is the prerequisite to proper orthodontic diagnosis and treatment. To provide insights into future cephalometric education, we compared the performance of different methods that can be used in tracing practice, including a novel online game-based method, the cephalometric training module of Uceph (version 948; Uceph, Chengdu, China). Methods A total of 45 first-year orthodontic graduate students were divided into 3 groups to receive different kinds of cephalometric training (module group, practicing with the cephalometric training module of Uceph; teaching group, practicing under the teacher’s guidance; self-training group, practicing with traced cephalogram as reference). After training with 4 cephalograms, students completed 2 test samples in which the tracing accuracy and time were recorded and a questionnaire concerning their feelings. Results Both the teaching and module group offered performance advantages on increasing the tracing accuracy and speed of students. The module group provided a better performance on improving tracing accuracy than the teaching group. Students in the module group showed improved concentration, interest, satisfaction toward the teaching method and confidence of correctly identifying landmarks than self-training group, and enhanced interest than students in the teaching group. Conclusions The shooting game-based cephalometric training module of Uceph has demonstrated better performance than traditional face-to-face teaching and self-learning, proving to be a viable online tool to train cephalometric tracing, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Orthodontic students need to accurately identify cephalometric landmarks to perform cephalometric measurements, which is the prerequisite to proper orthodontic diagnosis and treatment. To provide insights into future cephalometric education, we compared the performance of different methods that can be used in tracing practice, including a novel online game-based method, the cephalometric training module of Uceph (version 948; Uceph, Chengdu, China). A total of 45 first-year orthodontic graduate students were divided into 3 groups to receive different kinds of cephalometric training (module group, practicing with the cephalometric training module of Uceph; teaching group, practicing under the teacher’s guidance; self-training group, practicing with traced cephalogram as reference). After training with 4 cephalograms, students completed 2 test samples in which the tracing accuracy and time were recorded and a questionnaire concerning their feelings. Both the teaching and module group offered performance advantages on increasing the tracing accuracy and speed of students. The module group provided a better performance on improving tracing accuracy than the teaching group. Students in the module group showed improved concentration, interest, satisfaction toward the teaching method and confidence of correctly identifying landmarks than self-training group, and enhanced interest than students in the teaching group. The shooting game-based cephalometric training module of Uceph has demonstrated better performance than traditional face-to-face teaching and self-learning, proving to be a viable online tool to train cephalometric tracing, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.