Medical education videos as a tool for rehearsal: efficiency and the cases of background music and difficulty

Abstract

This study reports a field experiment investigating how instructional videos with and without background music contribute to the learning of examination techniques within a formal curriculum of medical teaching. Following a classroom teaching unit on the techniques for examining the knee and the shoulder joint, our participants ( N = 175) rehearsed the studied techniques for either the knee or the shoulder joint with an instructional video with or without background music. As dependent measures, we collected a general questionnaire, a prediction of test performance, as well as performance on an exam-like knowledge test covering both joints. For both videos, the participants who had watched the particular video during rehearsal were more accurate in answering the corresponding questions than the participants who had seen the other video, signaling that instructional videos provide a useful tool for rehearsal (i.e., both groups reciprocally served as control groups). For the knee video (less difficult), we observed a detrimental effect of the background music, whereas we observed no such effect for the shoulder video (more difficult). Further explorations revealed that background music might be detrimental for learning, as it reduces the perceived demand characteristics. Because the impact of the demand characteristics might be more pronounced in less difficult instructional videos, we discuss video difficulty as a potential moderating factor. Overall, our study provides evidence that instructional videos could be usefully implemented in formal teaching curricula and that such instructional videos probably should be designed without background music.

Music in medical education: A critical interpretive synthesis

“…pre-med undergraduate classes, [28][29][30] training for medical residents, [31][32][33][34] medical education training and development, 35 osteopathic medicine, 36 naturopathic medicine, 37 paramedicine, etc.). Articles were also excluded if the use of music described was prospective rather than retrospective 38,39 ; if they described an opportunity for medical students to design and submit creative works without discussion of musical artworks created by medical students [40][41][42][43] ; or if the use of music was incidental in the service of another artform such as theatre, 44,45 video, [46][47][48] vodcast 49 or identity text. 50 Finally, articles were excluded if they described musical activities with a cohort of medical students not directly related to general medical education, for example, qualitative explorations of musical experiences in which medical students have been participants, 51 studies testing a hypothesis about the effects of music with a cohort of medical students under experimental conditions, [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] Research orientation, 64 methodology and limitations were identified through an appraisal of research quality using JBI Critical Appraisal checklists, [65][66][67][68] with each study rated independently by ...…”

Machine learning's impact on medical education and research: beneficial or detrimental?

“…These tools assist students in structuring and visually representing various components of ideas. Static and animated graphics and films are crucial instructional aids in medical education, particularly for those aged [31]. These tools facilitate students' comprehension of intricate and theoretical medical ideas.…”