Utilization Patterns In, And Impact Of Computer-Mediated Learning On Medical Undergraduate Students’ Pre-Clinical Skills

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate medical education in Nigeria like other areas of human learning is under pressure due to students‟ over-population, unmanageable classroom and

laboratory teachings coupled with the need to expose students to clinical, theatre and surgical experiences. Thus, this study was driven by the need to undertake a baseline investigation that will explore and evaluate strength and weaknesses in utilization and impact of Computer-Mediated Learning on medical undergraduate students‟ pre-clinical skills; with a view to provide advice on strategy that is efficient and effective in bridging the gaps. The study adopted Pre-test / Post-test control group quasi experimental design. Seven research questions and seven research hypotheses were tested. The dependent variables were the post-intervention scores and self-reported responses. A total of 770 participants were involved in the baseline assessment and 320 participants for the impact assessment. The participants were fairly distributed among three medical institutions in Nigeria. Three instruments were used to gather data on some self-reported evaluative criteria on availability, accessibility, competence in use, utilization patterns and impact of Computer-Mediated Learning. They are: Medical Teachers‟ Computer-Mediated Learning Assessment (MeTeCoLA), Medical Undergraduate Students‟ Computer-Mediated Learning Assessment (MUSCoLA) and Pre-clinical Skills Assessment Test (PreCliSAT). Data were analyzed and summarized using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Statistical significance was investigated using Chi-square test, t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Highlights of the findings from the study include the following:

1. Findings indicated very low utilization patterns of some Computer-Mediated Learning activities such as; medical instructional video/audiovisuals, information processing of lecture documents using e-mail, CD and flash disk which necessitated the need for an intervention strategy. It also reflected varied utilization patterns among the participants covered by this study.

2. There was a significant impact of Computer-Mediated Learning intervention on intervention on experimental group preexperimental group pre--clinical skills performance.clinical skills performance.

3. There was no significant difference in the experimental There was no significant difference in the experimental group group postpost--test test performance across medical disciplines and gperformance across medical disciplines and gender.ender.

It was recommended that capacity building through faculty re-training, active involvement of students in Computer-Mediated Learning; ICT infrastructure and medical instructional courseware development be intensified. Lastly, the study developed a courseware package and formulated a proposed curriculum module to facilitate effective integration of Computer-Mediated Learning into undergraduate medical education.