The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 2009/01, 109(1):60. doi: 10.7556/jaoa.2009.109.1.40, type of study: ,css,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Full text    (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7556/jaoa.2009.109.1.40/html)

Keywords:

cross sectional study [894]
learning [109]
medical students [693]
osteopathic medicine [2108]
USA [1751]

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to analyze the use of student-generated web-based materials presented via a course management system by first-year medical students at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine during the Cell and Tissue course. The study also analyzed the learning styles of the participants, as defined by the Index of Learning Style construct, to determine if a correlation existed between learning style, use of online study materials and course performance. The study quantified the use of web-based materials by students utilizing the tracking function on the course management site and administering an anonymous survey to the participants. The surveys gathered information on the participants' self-assessed learning style, according to the Index of Learning Style construct, their use of the online study materials, the material's usefulness for examination preparation and projected course grade. Institutional Review Board, IRB, approval was given to obtain web-based tracking and survey information from the participants without the necessity of informed consent. Our results showed that a majority of medical students in a first-year course at an Osteopathic Medical school accessed Blackboard®, an online course management system throughout the course duration. Half of those medical students used the online study guides that were provided to them via the course management system for use in their course examination preparation. However, there was no correlation between the use of the online study materials and final course grade. The survey results showed a distribution of learning styles among the participants as follows: equal numbers of active and reflective learners and a greater percentage of sensing and visual learners over intuitive and verbal learners, respectively. Among the participants who used the online study guides available to them is we found a greater percentage of active, intuitive, and visual learners over their domain counterparts, reflective, sensing, and verbal learners, respectively. The study also found those students who identify themselves as reflective and sensing learners, as described by the Index of Learning Style construct, appear to achieve higher course grades than the active and intuitive learning styles, respectively. Thus this study has shown that there is a distinct distribution of learning styles within our cohort of first-year medical students. Of these, there is a subset of learning styles that appear to have a strong preference for web-based educational modalities. This information can be used to direct medical students towards study materials that would best appeal to their learning style. Results of this research also suggest a continued role of web-based learning modalities and course management systems as an adjunct to traditional methods, such a professor-lead lectures and textbook readings, in medical education.