Involving postgraduate medical students in pharmacology practical classes by e-learning

Discussion

In most of the areas, the teaching-learning activity was found to be effective. On the other hand, the effectiveness was not equal or equivalent in all the modules under study. Regarding improvement in performance, ‘In vitro experiment on the animal heart using Langendorff apparatus’ module was found to be most effective as reflected by the maximum improvement between pre- and post-test status of learners. This is probably because of the fact that the participants had minimum existing knowledge on this issue and therefore, the interest among the participants was maximum and improvement was also high because of the difference. Whereas, ‘Drug delivery to the lungs’ and ‘Procedure to determine the effect of adrenaline on rat uterus’ modules were found least effective. This perhaps happened because of the high existing knowledge of the participants that had no learning gap to fill and the improvement was less. However, the actual reasons behind the difference in effectiveness among different modules are difficult to ascertain from this study.

There was a significant number of dropout of candidates appearing in pre-test from attending the class and therefore post-test. This could imply technology shyness among the general population to accept something which was new and unfamiliar to them. On the other hand, there was an insignificant number of dropout candidates attending the classes from appearing at the post-test. This indicates that the attending learners had explicitly expressed their interest in the method. Although in this study, the comparison was not made in the face to face and virtual class, participants already had their experience with face to face class. Therefore, they had the capability to make a comparison between the two. It was found from the study that they preferred combining the two methods for more effective learning. This study explored the conformity of the class hour and the context as assessed from the number of slides. In general, the learners mentioned that the duration of the class was adequate and the numbers of slides were appropriate. It is not sure on what basis they had found their opinion. If learning needs were assessed beforehand this could form a basis to such an opinion. Short of that the opinions remain arbitrary.

In the perspective of the current development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) including enhanced internet speed, the scope has been created to include ICT in distance learning in the form of virtual class. This has become more relevant in the perspective of a shortage of teachers in most of the basic science disciplines including Pharmacology. If successful this would open opportunity for expanding the teaching-learning process outside the conventional method among which face to face class is a prevalent and popular one. The success of any educational method depends on its effectiveness as well as familiarity and acceptance by both the provider and the audience. In this study, the teaching modules having been delivered from a distance over internet protocol, the effectiveness was assessed through a self-administered online questionnaire survey. The learners’ preferences were evaluated similarly through a separate questionnaire.

Among the technical aspects of ICT, availability of personal computers and internet connection along with its speed were considered to be important issues in promoting this kind of virtual learning. Unavailability of a personal computer or shared computer systems may be a deterrent to using this method universally. In this study, it was not however surveyed whether the participants had easy, convenient and continuous access to ICT tools. However, the dropout seen among the participants in the study could reflect a number to whom the ICT tools were not available at the appointed time of class but may also have other reasons to be discussed later.

Incorporation of technology in education is a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. We are habituated with face to face teaching-learning since childhood. The concept of virtual learning is still newer even to the postgraduate students. Though it is newer, this study revealed satisfactory effectiveness in case of virtual teaching-learning and learners’ preference seems to be quite encouraging. At the national level, this technology has already been incorporated from primary school level, it is likely to become the game of the tomorrow’s teaching-learning. Therefore, teachers should pay attention to incorporate distance learning in higher education and thus increase the scope of teaching-learning including more number of students. By this technology confinement of classroom can be opened up beyond its boundaries. The world is advancing day by day and there is a need to convey information to the increasing number of population in an easy and effective way. Therefore, to be ready to face future challenges in higher education, it necessary to work more in this particular direction. If the identification of limitations of this study and the way to overcome those limitations become possible, virtual teaching-learning would become the order of the day in near future.

The learning in medical education is expected to be flawlessly effective because the practices of the learners directly affect health and life, both of which are precious. It is not true only because of its long tradition but also because of the presence of the premier authority of teaching and learning as we call them teacher, in the classroom to undertake fact to face teaching-learning as well as make an impact on its effectiveness, face to face learning has advantages in terms of greater control over the learners. In this respect, virtual learning where the teacher is not present actually in the classroom has lesser control over learning. However, this can be generally overcome by the great fascination of learners for this modality in terms of their true advantages that can create greater learning ability. Though the people have such a general notion and trend that they feel ease in conducting a class face to face, slow and steady incorporation of virtual teaching-learning as well as action research in this direction can change the concept of general people about virtual class. From this study, it was found that virtual learning is effective in learning procedural knowledge in some selected topics. If this virtual platform becomes effective in learning procedural knowledge in undergraduate and postgraduate, it can be applied to Continuing Medical Education and training. It is good to know that people do prefer to conduct Continuing Medical Education and training from the place they concern because worldwide Continuing Medical Education is online based. But it is required to prove urgently and for sure that procedural learning can be done effectively using a virtual platform. If proven, it will open a vista of new prospect so that people on the study can conduct training from their working place and the learners receive them from their own workplaces.

A study conducted in the Psychology Department of the University of Tasmania, Australia revealed that there was no significant difference in the academic performance of students in face to face class and online classes (Kemp and Grieve, 2014). Virtual laboratory for conducting practical classes have already been introduced in different faculties of science like Physics (Finkelstein et al., 2005), Biology (Muhamad et al., 2010), Engineering (Rajendran et al., 2010), Chemistry (Bakar et al., 2013) and have been found to be effective. Though no similar study had been done before to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual presentation in achieving procedural knowledge, this is expected from the study that the new generation of students of Bangladesh will have the capability to cope and assimilate the newer technology as good as any developed country.