Abstract

PI, Felip; SUEIRAS, Albert; GIL, Vicenç  and  JAURRIETA, Eduardo. The virtual lecture: Fundamentals of surgery in the Internet. Educ. méd. [online]. 2004, vol.7, n.1, pp.24-29. ISSN 1575-1813.

Background: Internet resources allow the development of a new theoretical lecture model based on an on-line, asynchronous teaching method. Objective: To evaluate a virtual case presentation related to the undergraduate course "Fundamentals of surgery" through an assessment of its use by the eighty faculty students registered on this course. Materials and Methods: The model is divided into three parts: a theoretical input section; a self-assessment questionnaire; and an answer forum. The theoretical section included hypertext and graphics, with four types of learning aid: (1) highlighting of essential information; (2) complementary non-essential information; (3) mnemonics; and (4) more detailed explanations of complex concepts. The questionnaire included ten questions. The answer screen presented the correct answers with comments, student’s score, and percentile of each score. The answer forum was based on the Ez-Board server. The teacher had only to explain the functioning of the system and the major issues. Students could look up information at any time and the answer forum remained active for two months. Results: This type of model made teaching easier and was extremely well received by the students. There were 239 consultations in two months, 80% from the faculty itself. Sixteen students used the interactive explanatory aid. Fifty-two answered the questionnaire: 36 students once and 16 twice or more times. The forum was visited 337 times. There were 38 questions from students and 46 answers from teachers and other experts. Conclusions: (1) The design and functioning were satisfactory; (2) students’ impressions were highly positive and their level of participation excellent; (3) the model appears to be a valuable aid in the acquisition of knowledge.

Keywords : Teaching methods and new technologies; interactive learning; partially on-line lecture.

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