Clinical e-LectureProgrammesat Imperial College LondonToro-Troconis, M., Meeran K., Barrett, M., Edwards, J., Schachter, M., Higham, J.Imperial College London, Faculty of Medicine, London, UK

RESULTS CONTINUED

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Figure 8. Did you find the discussion boards useful to learn from? Figure 9. Did you think the 'Pub Quizzes' were helpful to recall informationyou had learnt?

A very high number of students (87%) found the Blackboard quizzes useful toidentify gaps in their knowledge. The 'pub quizzes' were very well received bythe students as well; 76% found them helpful to recall information they havelearnt and 81% found the 'clickers' a useful interactive tool (See Figure 9).Students found the e-modules easy to navigate and use (85%).

In relation to the use of podcasts and vodcasts, only 33% of the students saidthey had downloaded them (See Figure 10). Only 11% of student accessedthe podcasts and vodcasts on their iPod/MP4 or MP3 player, and only 26%found them useful.

Figure 12. Did you find downloading the podcasts/video podcasts useful? Figure 13. Do you think the e-lectures were the best way to deliver the yearthree syllabus?

The School of Medicine at Imperial College hasused broadcasting technologies to deliverclinical lectures since 1998. The system covered15 teaching rooms in 10 different hospital/campus locations in West London. More recently,the sustainability of the system and of theteaching approach became less certain aschanges in NHS clinical service delivery wereimpacting on students' attendance. Increasingpressure upon doctors to deliver service targets,the European Working Time Directive andchanges in the way in which we deliverhealthcare (Olson et al 2005), coupled withhigher numbers of students entering medicaleducation, have increased the demands onacademics, resulting in less time for teaching(Ruiz et al 2006). Various forms of representativesimulation, many of which use digital

technology, have become an increasinglycommon alternative in healthcare education(Begg et al 2005b).

New educational drivers were required tobring our learning and teaching into the 21stcentury. The model of e-lecture programmedeveloped uses interactive technologies,including Web 2.0 technology and e-learningtools, to assist learning and teaching in theclinical programme for medical studentsduring Year 3 of the MBBS. The technologyused to deliver this programme is not new;however, the way it has been put together todeliver a clinical e-lecture programme hasproved to be innovative curriculum practiceand a stimulating learning experience for thestudents.

The e-lecture programme has been delivered as envisaged. Theobjectives have been achieved and the approach has proved bothpractical and compatible with the current technologies used by thestudents.

Student feedback has been very positive and student uptake has beenextremely successful. However, it is worth pointing out the low studentuptake in the use of podcasts and vodcasts, although a high percentageof students (67%) own an iPod or MP3 player. This is worth exploringfurther in future research projects.

This Year 3 e-lecture model approach has also been taken in thedevelopment of other e-lecture programmes delivered by the Faculty ofMedicine. The Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics e-lectureprogramme in the Final Year has also been developed following thismodel. This programme brings together seven online topics with 38 e-lectures, which are also delivered using the wide range of onlinelearning approaches described.

The development of the e-lecture programme has also helped identifycommon threads running across different years.This has already led to thedevelopment of reusable e-learning materials in the area of diabetes, andthus has endorsed the concept of vertical integration across the curriculum.

Olson, L.G., Hill, S.R. and Newby, D.A. (2005) "Barriers to student access topatients in a group of teaching hospitals", The Medical Journal of Australia,Vol 183, pp 461-463.

Ruiz, J., Mintzer, M. and Leipzig, R. (2006) "The impact of e-learning inmedical education. IT in medical education", Academic Medicine Vol 81,No. 3, pp 207-212.

Begg, M., Ellaway, R., Dewhurst, D. and Macleod H. (2005b). "Virtual patients:considerations of narrative and game play", in Proceedings of the FourthInternational Symposium for Information Design, Stuttgart Media University,Karlsruhe, June 2.http://digbib.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/volltexte/documents/1649 (accessedNovember 13, 2008).

Focus groups and online feedback have indicated that the new e-lectureprogramme is an effective and popular way of learning. Students value theopportunity to have access to the e-lectures from any location and review them attheir own pace. For example, these are some of the student comments received:

"I think the general programme so far has been excellent and very useful. Theinformation provided in the e-lectures has been brilliant and the self-assessments and quizzes have been very helpful in familiarising myselfwith the lecture topic concerned. I have gained a lot from the e-lecturesessions, the main reason being that the e-lectures can be done in your owntime which means you have enough time to make notes at the same time."

"Being able to juggle lectures with own material, at my own convenience.The frequent quizzes and ability to pause the lectures were fantastic."

"We could access the lectures whenever we found it convenient, whichmeant we concentrated on the lecture content. We could still askquestions and get a written answer back through the forums."

"The availability of podcasts, online lectures, EMQs and the ability toprint off handouts makes for a fantastic learning experience."

Figure 10. Did you download the podcasts on your iPod/MP3 or MP4 player? Figure 11. iPod type distribution among students

20% of the students surveyed own a video-enabled iPod or MP4 player. 47%owned an iPod or MP3 player and 28% do not have either an iPod or MP3player. iPod Nano is the most popular device (26%) followed by iPod classic(16%), iPod shuffle (5%) and iPod touch (2%) (See Figure 11).

Only 26% of the students actually found the podcasts and vodcasts useful (See Figure 12).

Using a blend of face-to-face sessions in the lecture theatre with access tointeractive online learning materials available 24/7 via the Virtual LearningEnvironment Blackboard (formerly WebCT) for Year 3 students (See Figure1), the programme was organised under 15 different topics. These materialswere released on a weekly basis from September 2007, until the end of theprogramme. During the year, the students attended nine face-to-face 'live'lectures at the main lecture theatres, and these sessions intercalated withthe online topics. During these face-to-face sessions, the course leaderreinforced the main issues raised during previous online topics using a Pub-Quiz format with students answering via personal response system(PRS) or 'clickers'. Each topic had a quiz, which was only available during thetopic's week. Each week contains a series of e-lectures, video podcasts,discussion forums and handouts.

352 third-year full-time undergraduate medical students were enrolledon the course; students were asked to complete an anonymous onlinequestionnaire at the end of the programme (May 2008).

106 students of average age 22 years completed the questionnaire; 51%male and 47% female.

Figure 1. E-lecture programme delivered via Blackboard

This consisted of 11 online topics:

Acute abdomen NeurologyAngina AntihypertensivesDiabetes Infectious diseaseVascular disease Respiratory diseaseLumps and bumps OncologyRenal disease

A total of 30 e-lectures were provided, offering a wide range of onlinelearning materials in different formats: interactive e-lectures, quizzes,Podcasts and Vodcasts, simulations, discussion groups and VirtualPatients (See Figure 1,2,3 and 4).

Figure 2. Simulation – controlling glucose levels in a patient with Type Idiabetes

Figure 3. Respiratory emergencies e-module

Figure 4. Virtual Patients

A high proportion of students (80%) found the e-lecture programme a positive learning experience (See Figure 6).

Figure 6. Did you find the e-lecture course a positive learning experience? Figure 7. Do you think that you would have learnt more if the lectures were all 'live'?

At the same time, more than half of the respondents (57%) did not thinkthey would have learnt more if the lectures were all 'live' (See Figure 7).

The discussion boards were found useful to learn from (49%) (See Figure 8).

METHODS

RESULTS

0%

20%

40%

60%

StronglyAgree

22%

Agree

27%

Neutral

32%

Disagree

10%

StronglyDisagree

6%

InvalidResponse

2%

NotAnswered

1%0%

20%

40%

60%

StronglyAgree

31%

Agree

45%

Neutral

14%

Disagree

4%

StronglyDisagree

2%

InvalidResponse

3%

NotAnswered

1%

No

Not Answered

Yes

0%

20%

40%

60%

N/A

27%

Other

19%

InvalidResponse

4%

iPodNano

26%

iPodClassic

16%

iPodShuffle

5%

iPodTouch

2%

NotAnswered

2%

0%

40%

60%

20%

80%

100%

Yes

26%

No

68%

NotAnswered

5%

InvalidResponse

1%0%

20%

40%

60%

StronglyAgree

9%

Agree

54%

Neutral

23%

Disagree

9%

StronglyDisagree

2%

InvalidResponse

2%

NotAnswered

1%

StronglyAgree

26%

Agree

54%

0%

20%

40%

60%

Neutral

11%

Disagree

3%

StronglyDisagree

3%

InvalidResponse

3%

0%

20%

40%

60%

StronglyAgree

3%

Agree

14%

Neutral

22%

Disagree

45%

StronglyDisagree

12%

InvalidResponse

3%

NotAnswered

1%

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