A Comparison of Conventional Teaching (Didactic Lectures) and Integrated Teaching for MBBS Students Misal Devika D.1, Maulingkar Saleel V.2,*, Champa H.2, Gladson Nikhil3 1Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, DMWIMS Medical College, Meppadi, Wayanad, Kerala, 673577, India 2Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, DMWIMS Medical College, Meppadi, Wayanad, Kerala, 673577, India 3Senior Resident, Department of Medicine, DMWIMS Medical College, Meppadi, Wayanad, Kerala, 673577, India *Corresponding author email id: saleelmaulingkar@yahoo.com
Online published on 10 December, 2015. Abstract Background Medical education in India is currently compartmentalised into different subjects with little or no integration. Topics in basic sciences are taught in isolation which fail to help the student correlate it with the clinical postings. In order to overcome this shortcoming, Medical Council of India has recommended the integrated teaching method and also strives to make it a part of regular curriculum. Objectives The study was undertaken to compare the effectiveness of integrated teaching with conventional lectures and to understand the students’ perception of the same. Methods 60 students of MBBS 2nd year were included in the study and were divided into two batches (A and B) with 30 students each. The same topic was taught using didactic lectures to Batch A and using integrated teaching to Batch B. The pretest and post-test scores between the batches were then compared statistically to determine the improvement in knowledge following both teaching learning methods. Feedback was collected from the students regarding both methods. Results Conventional teaching method (t-score=5.3762, P-value <0.001) as well as integrated teaching method (t-score=7.8195, P-value <0.001) significantly increased students’ knowledge. Analyses of the pre-and post-test scores of Batch A and Batch B showed that there is statistically significant increase in knowledge of students of Batch B as compared to Batch A (t-score=4.3179, P-value <0.001). Student's feedback also indicated a greater preference for integrated teaching as compared to didactic lectures. Integrated teaching sparked an interest in the topic in a majority of students which conventional teaching failed to achieve. Conclusion Integrated teaching is a more effective teaching learning methodology for medical undergraduates as compared to didactic lectures. A majority of students prefer integrated teaching over didactic lectures. Top Keywords Integrated teaching, Medical education, Students’ feedback, MBBS teaching, Didactic lectures. Top |