Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Physiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, DMIMS (DU), Wardha, Maharashtra, India

2 Department of Musculoskeletol, Ravi Nair Physiotherapy College, DMIMS (DU), Wardha, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In the past, textbook or printed material was the only source of information for
medical students or post-graduate students. After the introduction of internet, knowledge can be
accessed easily which is updated with various aids such as animation, videos which improve the
learning efficiency. This study was conducted to compare the learning efficiency between textbookbased seminar to that of internet-based seminar in postgraduate students of the department of
dermatology.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a non-randamized controlled study. The postgraduate students
in the department of dermatology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical college, DMIMS(DU),Sawangi (Meghe),
Wardha, Maharashtra, India were divided into two equal groups by simple randomization method
by flipping the coin. Totally 20 seminar topics were divided into two groups (A and B) consisting
of 10 seminars in each group. Postgraduate students assigned in group A were asked to prepare
seminar solely from textbooks while in group B, students were asked to prepare seminar by referring
internet. Feedback form which consists of 7 points, i.e. appearance, completeness of preparation,
clarity of presentation, appropriate use of audio visual aids, understanding of subject, ability to
answer questions, and overall performance were filled up from faculties and postgraduate students
after completion of each seminar. Pretest and post-test were filled up from postgraduate students
before and after each seminar respectively. Learning gain was calculated by comparing the scores
of pretest and posttest. Paired t-test was used to compare results in the group and unpaired t-test
was used to compare results between the two groups.
RESULTS: Faculties’ feedback on overall performance was higher (4.59 ± 0.15) in web-based
seminars as compared to in textbook-based seminars (3.85 ± 0.1) with significant P = 0.008.
Furthermore, postgraduate students’ feedback showed statistical significant value of 0.02 in webbased seminars (4.65 ± 0.06) compared to textbook-based seminars (3.2 ± 0.06). Learning gain
was significantly higher in web-based seminar compared to textbook-based seminar with P = 0.02.
CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that web-based learning can improve the learning efficiency in
postgraduate medical students.

Keywords

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