Introducing E-learning in Epidemiology Course for Undergraduate Medical Students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade: A Pilot Study.
The aim of this study was to determine whether e-learning as a new teaching concept was acceptable for second-year undergraduates and to compare attitudes and exam results of students who followed electronic compared with classroom seminars. The electronic seminars (e-seminars) were developed several months prior to start of the epidemiology course for second-year students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. The students who applied for e-seminars accessed their content during summer semester (February-May) 2014. E-seminars were set according to the existing topics in practical workbook and designed using Moodle, a free, open-source, personal home page web application for producing modular internet-based courses. To evaluate the motives for enrollment and satisfaction with seminars, two surveys (pre- and post-course) were administered. Students' exam grades were registered over 4 exam sessions (June-October 2014) and compared according to seminar program. Out of 516 students in the second year, 60 (11.6 %) applied for e-seminars (mean age 21 years). Students considered the reason "It's easier to do assignments from home" as the strongest motive to participate. When compared to classroom seminars, students in e-seminars had significantly more fun (p = 0.003), thought that e-seminars were better mode to learn epidemiology (p = 0.030) and would recommend them to other colleagues (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference in average grade received at the oral exam in epidemiology (t = 0.071, p = 0.944). E-seminars in undergraduate epidemiology course add a novel, easy-to-follow and amusing mode of learning. Based on this pilot study, e-seminars in epidemiology will be available for next generations of students, while further improvement of e-seminars could include expansion of seminar syllabus and development of discussion fora.
Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Visegradska 26A, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia.
Tatjana
T
Gazibara
Vuk
V
Marusic
Gorica
G
Maric
Milica
M
Zaric
Isidora
I
Vujcic
Darija
D
Kisic-Tepavcevic
Jadranka
J
Maksimovic
Nataša
N
Maksimovic
Ljiljana Markovic
LM
Denic
Sandra Sipetic
SS
Grujicic
Tatjana
T
Pekmezovic
Anita
A
Grgurevic
D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000379:methods*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult