Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Feasibility, effectiveness, and students’ attitude toward using WhatsApp in histology teaching and learning

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Shital Sopanrao Maske
. Prathamesh Haridas Kamble
. Sushma Kushal Kataria
. Leena Raichandani
. Ruchika Dhankar

Department of Physiology, AIIMS, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The present study assessed the feasibility, effectiveness, and students’ attitude toward
histology teaching using WhatsApp.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted 6 months of histology teaching session on a “Histology
learning WhatsApp group” consisting of 250 1st‑year medical graduate students at Dr. S.N. Medical
College, Jodhpur. A teacher posted a digital image of histology slides created using a mobile camera; a
slide diagram sketched using hematoxylin and eosin pencil, identification points, and detail description
of slide followed by discussion of queries. The feasibility was measured by adequate enrollment of
students in the WhatsApp group, drop‑out rate during the teaching period, acceptability of the by
students based on their feedback, and perception of the teacher. To study the effectiveness, we
conducted an online test pre‑ and posttests after every 2 months. The Student’s attitude WhatsApp
learning was assessed using the prevalidated feedback questionnaire.
RESULTS: All the 1st‑year medical graduate students admitted in the year 2016 enrolled and most
of them were actively participated in the discussion conducted on WhatsApp group with zero dropout
rate. Students’ feedback indicated that students enjoyed learning using WhatsApp with better
participation than traditional teaching method. Students liked anytime, anywhere learning using
WhatsApp and it helped them to clear doubts. The statistical difference between average pre‑ and
posttest scores (6.54 ± 2.33 and 16.37 ± 3.32, respectively) were statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that histology teaching using WhatsApp learning group is feasible,
effective, and student‑friendly method. It should be used more frequently to complement traditional
teaching.

Keywords

Histology
medical education
WhatsApp
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 8, Issue 12
December 2018
Pages 1-6

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