Abstract

Background & Purpose: Dental hygienists are essential healthcare professionals who plan and execute oral health education across various settings. Selecting, producing, and utilizing educational media tailored to target audiences is a required core competency. With the digital transformation in higher education, educational technology (EdTech) is expanding rapidly. This study aimed to investigate the status of EdTech tool utilization in an oral health education media production course among undergraduate dental hygiene students in Korea and empirically analyze differences in student engagement, personal satisfaction, and academic success according to EdTech usage experience.

Methods: From December 2025 to June 2026, 162 dental hygiene students who had finished an oral health education media production course in Korea within the previous year were given a structured online survey. We measured academic success (35 items), personal satisfaction (21 items), student engagement (10 items) using a 5-point Likert scale. Thematic content analysis for open-ended qualitative replies, one-way ANOVA with Games-Howell post-hoc testing, and independent t-tests were employed to process the quantitative and qualitative data.

Results: Of those surveyed, 85.8% (n=139) said they used EdTech tools. The most popular tools were Padlet (29.5%), Canva (44.6%), and Generative AI (79.9%). When compared to non-users, EdTech users showed considerably greater levels of academic success (4.46 vs. 3.95), personal satisfaction (4.38 vs. 3.73), and student engagement (4.24 vs. 3.58) (p <.001). Compared to instructor-led or student-led modes alone, a combined "instructor-guided and student-led" strategy demonstrated superior student engagement (4.54) and personal satisfaction (4.58). To mitigate digital overload and fatigue, moderate EdTech utilization (30% to <50% of course weeks) yielded much better results than heavy usage (?50%). All outcomes were significantly worse for students with lower academic Success (GPA < 3.0). Paywalls, unstable internet, and team project dynamics were the biggest obstacles, while real-time teacher feedback (56.1%) and AI-driven content development (31.7%) were the main facilitators, according to qualitative analysis.

Conclusion: Student engagement, personal satisfaction, and academic success are greatly increased when EdTech is methodically incorporated into practice-oriented oral health education media courses. To avoid cognitive overload and maximize learning outcomes, a scaffolded, instructor-guided strategy paired with selective tool deployment (5–7 weeks) is advised.