BACKGROUND In medical education, didactic lectures, tutorials, bedside clinics, etc. are some of the teaching-learning method incorporated in the curriculum. Most of the methods are teacher oriented where students are not involved much. Active participation of the students, i.e. student centered approach increases the understanding of the subject. In physiology, the tutorials are conducted to discuss the individual topics. It was observed that active participation of students in physiology tutorials is less. This study was undertaken to actively involve the students during tutorials and to assess their understanding by Team-Based Learning (TBL). MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, the performance of the students in team-based learning was compared with the traditional learning. The pretest and post-test was conducted at the beginning and at the end of the tutorial in both the groups. In the study group, the tutorial topics were discussed in teams, whereas in control group, the tutorial was conducted by traditional method. RESULTS There was a significant increase in performance in post-test in study group compared to control group (p <0.001). TBL sessions will be more interesting and interacting compared to traditional method. TBL method improves the student's understanding of the topics in detail and hence enhances the performance. CONCLUSION The different teaching-learning methods, which increase the student's involvement should be implemented in the medical education to facilitate the learning process.

BACKGROUND Instant messaging system in social media facilitates communication. Most of the medical students after entering this professional course are not serious about the study and analysis of the medical subjects resulting in the less score in exams. Considering the difficulties of the students, the present study was conducted to sensitize the students and evaluate the effectiveness of WhatsApp medium in learning. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is an interventional study conducted in sixty-one 1 st MBBS students who have scored less than thirty five percent marks in 1 st internal assessment in Physiology. Both boys and girls were included in the study. The WhatsApp group by name "Study Group" was created. The question bank was prepared by peer review. All the students were sensitized by conducting the regular question answer session on important topics. The participation of every student was observed by the record keeper. The effectiveness was observed by comparing the score in second and third internal assessment with first internal assessment examinations. RESULTS There was the active participation of all the students. There was statistically very highly significant difference of mean score of 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd internal assessment marks (P<0.001). The effectiveness of WhatsApp was observed equally in both male and female students. There was a significant improvement of marks scored in the 2 nd and 3 rd internal assessment as compared to 1 st internal assessment. CONCLUSION The constant availability of facilitator and learning anytime anywhere has made WhatsApp a new and convenient tool for sensitizing the 1 st MBBS students in teaching and learning activity.