title: Virtual classroom helps medical education for both Chinese and foreign students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The rapid development of computer and internet technology has a strong influence over one's quality of education within different fields of study. To determine the potential benefits of introducing internet into medical school classes, a pilot study was conducted in three different Chinese medical schools.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven hundred and eight medical school undergraduates, 385 dental school students and 366 foreign students were randomly recruited to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The contents included personal information, current usage of computer and internet, and attitudes towards the computerised teaching methods. Two forum groups were created using instant message software and were randomly assigned to two classes, allowing students to freely ask or discuss questions with the help of their teachers in these two virtual classrooms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 1539 questionnaires were accepted and analysed. Although there were some differences between Chinese and foreign undergraduates, both group of students were highly proficient in internet usage and navigation. Overwhelmingly, 88.37% of the students owned a computer and frequently logged onto the internet. Most of them believed that the internet is a helpful adjunct to their studies and held positive attitudes towards computerised teaching. Compared to the classes that were not assigned internet forums, the two experimental classes performed significantly better on the examination.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that computerised teaching methods have significant potential to assist in learning for both Chinese and foreign medical undergraduates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontics and Periodontics, College of Stomatology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontics and Periodontics, College of Stomatology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, College of Stomatology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Surgery, College of Stomatology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontics and Periodontics, College of Stomatology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Endodontics and Periodontics, College of Stomatology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D004497:Education, Dental; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attitudes; dental undergraduates; internet; medical undergraduates