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The digital age: is this the future of medical education? A cross-sectional study to assess medical students’ opinions about e-learning in psychiatry undergraduate medical education
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 May 2014
Abstract
The main objectives were to assess medical students’ opinions about e-learning in psychiatry undergraduate medical education, and to investigate a possible relationship between learning styles and preferences for learning modalities.
During the academic year 2009/2010, all 231 senior Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) medical students in their penultimate year of study were invited to answer a questionnaire that was posted online on Moodle, the RCSI virtual learning environment.
In all, 186 students responded to the questionnaire, a response rate of 80%. Significantly more students stated a preference for live psychiatry tutorials over e-learning lectures. Students considered flexible learning, having the option of viewing material again and the ability to learn at one’s own pace with e-learning lectures, to be more valuable than having faster and easier information retrieval.
Students prefer traditional in-class studying, even when they are offered a rich e-learning environment. Understanding students’ learning styles has been identified as an important element for e-learning development, delivery and instruction, which can lead to improved student performance.
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- Original Research
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- Copyright
- © College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2014
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