The effectiveness of using computer assisted instruction (CAI) to support self-studying of the third year Medical students taking the Medical Platyhelminthes course, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Abstract

Self study is an essential tool for undergaduate medical students. The current system of medical education is under debate since student interest seems to be decreasing. To investigate this situation we performed an evaluation of the self-study lessons part of the Medical Platyhelminthes course for undergraduate in Medical Parasitology that used computer assisted instruction (CAI) compared with those lessons that used conventional paper documents. A total of 60 medical students from year 3 were divided into 2 groups. The experimental group had 30 medical students who used the multimedia program, and the control group ha 30 who used conventional paper document lessons; both types of lessons had the same content. At he end of the course, the level of knowledge acquisition for the 2 groups was evaluated by a multiple choice test. The results showed that the computer assisted instruction was effective. Study with the computer assisted instruction lesson increased learning efficiency statistically significantly at the level of 0.05 significance. A comparison of the learning efficiency was made between the 2 groups and it was found that there was no statistically significant difference at the level of 0.05 significance.