Students’ views on audio visual aids used during didactic lectures in a medical college

Abstract

Introduction: Medical teachers have conventionally been using different teaching methods to educate medical students previously dominated by blackboard and slide projectors. Now day's audiovisual aids such as power point have been used. The optimum use of audiovisual aids is essential forderiving their benefits. This study was done to know the students' preference regarding the various audiovisual aids, with an aim to improve their use in didactic lectures. Material &Methods: Two hundred and eighty six from first, second and third professional medical students were invited to participate in a questionnaire based study. Two hundred and thirteen (74.4%) students completed the questionnaire and their responses were analyzed. The first part of the questionnaire included demographic and educational details. The second part consisted of 12 statements regarding the preference of audiovisual aids for various aspects of learning. Results: In this study, 90.1% of the respondents (first, second & third professional) were stimulated for further reading if they attended a lecture which was augmented by the use of visual aids. The respondents preferred a combination of audiovisual aids during a didactic lecture. The perception of diagrams, flow charts and note taking was best accepted with a power point presentation by first and second professional students, whereas OHP preferred by third professional students . In understanding a particular topic, a combination of aids scored over the use of a particular visual aid alone. In listening and understanding a particular topic, power point presentation was the most preferred aid, with the blackboard being preferred by third professional students. About 62.4% of the respondents were interested in taking notes during class compare to handouts. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that lectures delivered by using a combination of audio visual aids are more appreciated by the students. Furthermore, the lecture should be constructed in a fashion so as to enable the students to gather factual information easily and in a concise manner. Teachers should note that the students preferred a combination of visual aids and were interested in taking notes during lectures.

A prospective study of perceptions and preferences of medical students regarding teaching aids in teaching Pharmacology in a Medical College from India

“…Our finding is parallel to a study done by Banerjee I et al; [7] , Kumar A et al; [8] in India also reported that combination of teaching aids is the best method of teaching and learning methodology. Thus the reason for combinations approach is, it might help the students to be alert and to make them actively involved during class.…”

Attitude of Medical and Dental First Year Students Towards Teaching Methods in a Medical College of Northern India.

“…n = 142 (94.67%) students [Table/ Fig-6] accepted that their use inspired them for in-depth reading of subject. Review of literature [13,14] also supports the use of audio visual aids in medical colleges. These aids provide a three dimensional view of medical diagrams and clinical images that helps the students in perceiving them correctly.…”

Perceptions of Medical Students Regarding Use of Audio-visual Aids in Lecture Delivery

“…Similarly, a study done by Giri PA et al [10] found that use of a combination of audiovisual aids was more appreciated by the undergraduate medical students. Another study done by Kumar A et al [11] also found that 50.0% students showed a preference for the use of a combination of audio-visual aids during the lecture delivery. A study by Mohan L et al [9] also found consistent results with our study-reporting majority of students in their study group preferred mixed A-V aids especially for understanding a particular topic.…”