VIDEO PODCASTS AND COMPUTER QUIZZES IN TEACHING MEDICAL BIOCHEMISTRY: WHICH DO STUDENTS FIND MOST HELPFUL?

Janet E. Lindsley*, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 U.S.A. (IRB # 00024688)

PURPOSE: Our Medical Biochemistry course is an intensive, primarily lecture-based course. We wanted to study the effects of video and audiocasting the lectures on class attendance, participation and student usage. Additionally, in order to provide regular, low-stress assessment of student understanding, we instituted computer-based quizzes after most lectures. The quizzes were made available for 3 days following the lecture. Students were allowed two attempts to obtain a perfect score. The 41 quizzes, 317 total questions, were worth 10% of the grade.

METHODS: Anonymous paper and online questionnaires were used to survey the 103 students. Students were asked to evaluate the effects of these technologies on class attendance and learning effectiveness. Faculty noted the approximate attendance during lecture. Computer records of podcast downloads and quiz usage were studied.

RESULTS: This course concluded the same week that this abstract was due, and therefore only preliminary observations can be noted at this time. The major observations are that: 1) having all of the lectures available as video and audiocasts has not noticeably altered student lecture attendance, and 2) nearly all students are taking the lecture quizzes seriously (81% scored above 90%) and most reported that the quizzes were the most useful technology to help them learn course material.

CONCLUSION: Final conclusions will be presented at the meeting. However, two important conclusions are already clear. First, videocasting lectures has not significantly affected student attendance. Second, the quizzes have been popular among students and faculty alike.