E-Learning Versus Traditional Teaching in Medical Education: A Comparative Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Traditional method of learning via face to face lecture has been in curriculum since timesimmemorial. E-learning via multimedia has been a recent introduction in education system. Purpose: Tocompare e-learning with the traditional method of teaching in medical education. Material and Methods: Thetwo different methods of teaching were applied on the same group of students. A total of six lectures wereconducted. Three of them were taught by traditional method of teaching and three by e-leaning. Formativeassessment in the form of written examination was carried out, followed by qualitative assessment at the endof session. Results: The mean marks obtained after Exam-1 (i.e. following traditional teaching method) was6.46 ± 1.48 and mean marks obtained after Exam-2 (i.e. following e-learning) was 8.37 ± 1.27. The meandifference score was 1.91 ± 1.55. The paired t-test was applied, and the value of t was 11.96 with p-value<0.001. The results between two teaching methods were statistically significant. For qualitative analysisLikert scale was used. 66% of students strongly agreed that e-learning is a superior method than traditionalmethod of learning. Conclusion: The e-learning proved to be more efficient and uniform method of studentlearning with revision facilities.