Blended learning: Is it required in human physiology.

Introduction: The present study was aimed to understand the effectiveness of blended learning in comparison with the traditional class room teaching .In addition, it also focused on understanding the student’s views and perceptions regarding the two knowledge delivering systems. Method: After the approval from Institutional Ethics committee, the project was conducted with 50 first MBBS students at the K.J. Somaiya Medical College, India. 4 topics in haematology and Gastro-intestinal Physiology were selected. Out of which, 2 haematology and 2 Gastro-intestinal Physiology topics were taken as blended learning and the remaining 2 haematology and 2 Gastro-intestinal Physiology topics were taken as a traditional class room teaching with no additional recourse material being provided. After the entire session, a written exam was conducted for the topics taught in blended learning and class room teaching and answers were corrected by the senior faculty. The marks obtained were then analysed using SPSS 16.0 software. The students were asked to fill the questionnaire regarding their experience about blended learning and class room teaching. Results : The marks obtained by the students in blended learning (p=0.000*)were significantly better compared to classroom teaching .The questionnaire showed 60-80 % students believing that blended learning helps in reinforcement and concept building process, it helps in revising the concepts as their own ease and time. Conclusion : The present study showed that the integration of blended learning has a better impact on students performance. In addition, it also showed a better acceptability of blended learning among the students concluding the need of incorporating blended learning in medical curriculum in India on a wider basis.

Objective Structured Practical Examination vs. Traditional Clinical Examination in Human Physiology: Student’s perception.

Background: An integral part of a medical curriculum is an appropriate assessment of clinical competencies of the medical students. The Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) can assess practical competencies in an appropriate, step-wise, methodical, objective and time-orientated manner with direct observation of the student’s performance during planned clinical test stations. Aims & Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine first year MBBS students’ perception of OSPE in comparison of their views of Traditional clinical examination (TCE) in Human Physiology. Material and Methods: A total of 50 first MBBS Students in Physiology were administered a questionnaire for quantitative as well as qualitative analysis. Quantitative analysis of students’ perception involved a 5 point Likert scale containing 5 broad themes as (1) Is OSPE a better stimulus to learning ? (2) Content of the OSPE (3) Is OSPE a reliable and fair examination? (4) Administration of OSPE, (5) OSPE vs. Traditional clinical exam with 23 questions and their opinion regarding both the assessment tools were noted for qualitative analysis. Results: Results showed a positive perception of the OSPE as a better stimulus to learning (58%) with satisfactory content of OSPE (72%) , OSPE being objective, fair and unbiased (54%), having effective administration (60%) and the OSPE being better than TCE (52%).They felt lack of fear of facing the examiner which relieved their anxiety for the examination. Conclusion: The students felt that the OSPE is an objective, unbiased and consistent method of examination. They could perform better compared to TCE as there was no fear of examiners.

Experience of objective structured practical examination in traditional settings of human physiology curriculum.

Introduction: An integral part of a medical curriculum is an appropriate assessment of the students’ clinical competencies since assessment drives learning. A need of a more competence based assessment method led to introduction of Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) which assesses the ‘shows how’ level of the Miller’s pyramid of clinical competence as Traditional Clinical Examination (TCE) focuses on the “knows” and “knows how” aspects .The present study focuses on the experience of OSPE in term of the reliability and validity in comparison with traditional assessment method. Methodology: After the institutional ethical committee approval, a pilot study for comparing TCE with OSPE was conducted with a batch of 50 first MBBS students at K.J.Somaiya medical college in the department of Physiology for 4 consecutive days. Three examiners with teaching experience of 35, 6 and 1 year respectively conducted TCE followed by OSPE which had 10 stations assessing cognitive, psychomotor and affective domain for the same batch of 25 students in each. Results: OSPE had a good face validity and content validly as compared to TCE. Predictive validity using Pearson’s correlation with the final year –end examination for TCE was 0.45 while for OSPE was 0.78 and reliability measured by internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha for TCE was 0.66 and for OSPE was 0.73 . The inter-station reliability measured affective and psychomotor domain in OSPE was 0.279 and 0.4 respectively while that for cognitive domain was 0.963. Conclusion: OSPE is a reliable and valid assessment tool provided it is more comprehensive and standardized. However it needs to be incorporated with traditional assessment for an overall evaluation of student’s performance.