Evaluation of strategies to increase students involvement for improving interactive lectures in chemical pathology

ABSTRACT

To evaluate students perspective on effectiveness of various strategies employed to increase their involvement in an interactive lecture. Case study with pragmatic research paradigm. College of Physicians and Surgeons [CPSP] Karachi and Regional Centre Islamabad, Pakistan from Jan 2012 to Jan 2014. Three hundred and three post graduate students attending preparatory courses [82[nd] to 87[th] Basic Medical Sciences] for Fellow College of Physicians and Surgeons [FCPS] Part I were selected for the study. Teaching strategies like multiple choose questions [MCQs], flash cards as audience response system [ARS] and purposefully designed hand-outs were used. Questionnaire based on Likert's Scale [quantitative] and video recorded focus group discussion [FGDs] with small groups of students [qualitative] were used for evaluation of the teaching strategies. Mostly females [78%] with mean age of 29 years from 15 different medical and dental specialties were included in the study after obtaining their informed written consent. Average total score was found to be 25.71[95% CI 25.40 to 26.02] out of maximum possible score of 30 [if all the six questions were strongly agreed to]. Liking of the students as determined from feedback forms was for Flash Cards as ARS [89%], MCQs [88%] and hand-outs [85%] while content coverage received poorest liking [79%]. Similar themes were found in the content analysis of FGDs. There was a significant increase in the students liking from 82[nd] course [Jan 2012] to 88[th] Course [Jan 2014]. Post-graduate students preparing for FCPS part I examination highly approved the strategies to increase effectiveness of lectures in the preparatory courses