E-learning has been used as a method of paedogogical transfer with the aim of enhancing satisfaction, retention and ultimately achievement for many years. The efficacy of e-learning has been documented by the Metadata Analysis and Review of online learning studies carried out by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009. This reported that studies contrasting blends of online and face to face teaching with traditional face to face teaching showed that blended instruction was more effective (Means et al, 2009).

Imperial College has created a state-of-the-art electronic educational resource for use as part of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology teaching program. This poster details the preliminary study that we undertook to assess both the efficacy and popularity of the use of educational media in teaching 5th year medical students. We have used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative measures to provide a detailed comparison of traditional teaching and e-learning. We have combined this with a qualitative analysis of the blended approach to assess whether it can be considered that there is a synergistic relationship between the two styles.

Comparative evaluation of online educational resource against traditional teaching and a blended approach in

Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

Introduction

Naila KAMAL, Robert GOLDING, Maria TORO-TROCONIS, Martin LUPTON

MethodWe took a selection of 5th year medical students during the 3rd week of their Obstetrics and Gynaecology rotation and randomised them into one of two groups. The first groupreceived a tutorial delivered by a teaching fellow and the second group completed an e-learning module on the same topic. Both groups completed a questionnaire and a test before and after the session. The questionnaire was designed to analyse the perception of e-learning to discover whether this would be a barrier to more widespread use or whether it is influenced by the design of the module. The test was negatively marked with a maximum score of 5 and a minimum of -5.

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ResultsThe graph opposite shows the results from the pre and post teaching tests. The error bars represent two standard deviations one either side of the mean. The mean scores for traditional teaching and e-learning respectively were; pre-test score 2.34 and 0.56, post test score 3.45 and 4.23, mean improvement 1.12and 3.67. All figures given to two decimal places.

The analysis of the pre and post teaching questionnaire showed that opinions about the importance of both face to face interaction and augmentation by e-learning as an effective means of delivering course content did not change significantly. Students seemed to appreciate the face to face interaction as a format for teaching certain skills. After the teaching the students were more in favour of the use of teaching aids although they were also more concerned about the possibility of technology becoming too complicated.

Discussion and ReferencesThe quantitative data that we collected, although it did not meet the criteria for significance of P<0.05 due to the small sample size, demonstrated an encouraging trend. Both teaching approaches saw an increase in performance of the students when tested with e-learning seemingly more effective. If a larger sample size were used demonstrating the same trend with significance we could conclude that e-learning could be used to deliver teaching effectively and in a more cost effective manner.

The qualitative data suggested to us that the opinions of the students were generally in favour of the use of e-learning to augment teaching although it would not be able to totally replace more traditional methods.

The drive to take advantage of the wide variety of paedogogical methods on offer and improve teaching has resulted in the increased development of e-learning modules. Our research suggests that judicious use of e-learning could enhance learning and cost effectiveness. We propose a larger study to assess this in greater detail.References:- Beck, S. (1997). "Evaluation criteria." The good, the bad and the ugly: or, Why it's a good idea to evaluate Web sources. [Online]. Available: http://lib.nmsu.edu/staff/susabeck/evalcrit.html [1999, April 27].  Brandt, D. S. "Evaluating information on the Internet." [Online]. Available: http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/~techman/evaluate.htm [1999, April 27].  - Drake, L.; And Others. (1995). Notes from ERIC. Assessment and Evaluation on the Internet. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice,14(4), 28-30. (EJ 519 184).  - "Evaluating Internet resources: Table of contents." St. Norbert College Library. [Online]. http://www.snc.edu/library/eval1.htm [1999, April 27]. - Harmnon & Reeves. (1998). Educational WWW sites evaluation instrument. [Online]. Available: http://itech18.coe.uga.edu/edit8350/wwweval.html [1999, April 27].  - Livengood, S. P. (1997). An evaluation instrument for Internet web sites. Master's Research Paper, Kent State University. (ED 413 899) - Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2009). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Retrieved from: http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf- Smith, A. G. (1997). Testing the surf: Criteria for evaluating Internet information resources. Public-Access Computer Systems Review, 8(3), 1-14. (EJ 554 170).  - Wilkinson, G. L., Bennett, L. & Oliver, K. (1997). Evaluation criteria and indicators of quality of Internet resources. Educational Technology, 37(3). [Online.] http://itech18.coe.uga.edu/faculty/gwilkinson/webeval.html.