ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Medical education increasingly relies on digital learning materials. Despite recognition by the Association of American Medical Colleges Institute for Improving Medical Education, medical education design often fails to consider quality multimedia design principles. Further, the AAMC-IIME issued a call to study the role of design principles in medical education. Thus, the current study investigated the cognitive and affective effects of redesigning PowerPoint slides used to support pharmacology content during the preclinical years of medical school training. METHODS: Researchers implemented a quasi-experimental design, using traditionally-designed (original) slides with a Traditional group (n = 100) and slides redesigned to follow principles from the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning with an Experimental group (n = 40). Participants in the Experimental group completed a post-survey incorporating the Situational Interest Survey for Multimedia to indicate motivational engagement with the media. Students in the Experimental group also responded to additional preference questions. Researchers analyzed survey responses and students' scores in pharmacology-related coursework across the preclinical Foundations Phase of training to determine the impact on achievement and motivation. RESULTS: Findings related to learner achievement showed a modest but significant increase in the Experimental group compared to the Traditional group in the Cardiac, Pulmonary, and Renal (CPR) educational block (105%, normalized to Traditional group, p = 0.013) and cumulative pharmacology grades (101%, normalized to Traditional group, p = 0.043). Additionally, participants in the Experimental group indicated a significantly higher average triggered situational interest in redesigned slides (M = 4.85, SD = 0.25) than the original slides (M = 3.23, SD = 1.40, t=-6.33, p < 0.001). Similarly, the interest rating of the redesigned slides (M = 4.87, SD = 0.24) was significantly greater than that of the original slides (M = 3.89, SD = 0.86, t=-6.824, p < 0.001). Moreover, results further indicated significant differences in the maintained-feeling and maintained-value constructs, and all participants in the Experimental group indicated a preference for the redesigned slides. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide strong evidence in support of using the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning design principles to intentionally design media in medical education. In addition to increased achievement scores, students in the Experimental group demonstrated significantly higher levels of situational interest in the redesigned slides, especially triggered interest and maintained-feeling interest. Medical education learning designers should seriously consider redesigning media to achieve similar results.
Subject(s)
Learning , Multimedia , Humans , Students , Motivation , Educational MeasurementABSTRACT
Scholars, educators, and students are increasingly encouraged to participate in online spaces. While the current literature highlights the potential positive outcomes of such participation, little research exists on the sentiment that these individuals may face online and on the factors that may lead some people to face different types of sentiment than others. To investigate these issues, we examined the strength of positive and negative sentiment expressed in response to TEDx and TED-Ed talks posted on YouTube (n = 655), the effect of several variables on comment and reply sentiment (n = 774,939), and the projected effects that sentiment-based moderation would have had on posted content. We found that most comments and replies were neutral in nature and some topics were more likely than others to elicit positive or negative sentiment. Videos of male presenters showed greater neutrality, while videos of female presenters saw significantly greater positive and negative polarity in replies. Animations neutralized both the negativity and positivity of replies at a very high rate. Gender and video format influenced the sentiment of replies and not just the initial comments that were directed toward the video. Finally, we found that using sentiment as a way to moderate offensive content would have a significant effect on non-offensive content. These findings have far-reaching implications for social media platforms and for those who encourage or prepare students and scholars to participate online.
