Abstract
Objective: To compare the academic performance of e-learning and didactic teaching strategy among third-year dental students.
Methodology: This Quasi-experimental study was conducted at Bahria Dental College Karachi from 10-Jan to 10-March, 2020. The students of third year BDS were divided into two groups; an experimental group of e-learning and didactic teaching as a controlled group without randomization. Each group comprised of 25 students. The topic of “White Oral Lesions” was taught in both groups having similar learning objectives and course content. In the e-learning group (as asynchronous); the course content was emailed to participants containing videos, literature review, and clinical scenarios, and in the didactic learning group; the content was delivered in two lectures. The academic performance was evaluated at baseline, after course completion, and after 5 weeks through 15 MCQs. The data were analyzed on SPSS version 23.
Results: The response rate was 100%; from which 47(94%) were female and 3(6%) males. Mean age was 20.96±75 years. There was a significant difference found in the mean academic scores of all three performances of e-learning and didactic learning groups after 5 weeks as 32.42 and 18.58, respectively (p=0.001).
Conclusion: In e-learning process, academic performance was enhanced as compared to traditional learning methods. Hence, e-learning has positive influence over knowledge acquisition and retention.

Key words: Academic performance, E-Learning, undergraduate dental students.