Perceptions and Preferences of Different Teaching and Evaluation Methodologies Amongst First Year Undergraduate Medical Students

Various teaching methodologies are been utilised in medical schools and is an active area of educational research now-a-days. We aimed to determine the perceptions of medical students about various teaching methodologies in terms of methods (traditional, PowerPoint and overhead projector) and evaluation (problem-solving and structured examination).

This was a cross-sectional questionnaire based study that involved 100 first year medical students of Hamdard University. The results were analysed using descriptive statistics.

Sixty percent of the students liked the theory lecture to be presented in the form of traditional method (chalk & talk) whereas 38% of the students liked PowerPoint (PPT) while only 2% students preferred overhead projector (OHP). Higher satisfaction score was given to traditional method in terms of understanding the concept, continuation between individual lectures and positive effect on their motivation to learn.

Results from our study reflect that problem based learning (PBL) is an effective, interesting instructional method which can indeed be incorporated in curriculum. Students believed that objective structured practical and clinical examination (OSPE and OSCE) are fair assessment tools and are more organized as compared to the traditional examination. Although, students were ready to accept the newer methodologies in terms of technique and evaluation, they favoured traditional method in comparison to PPT and OHP. According to students, both PBL and structured examination should be incorporated in medical curriculum.