A Progress Report of E-Learning Tools Usage among Medical Students in Saudi Teaching Hospital
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Abstract
Background: Public universities in Saudi Arabia today are making substantial investments in e-learning as part of their educational system, especially in the implementation of Learning Management Systems (LMS). A better understanding is sought of how best to support their use in a blended e-learning approach.
Research Significance: Medical Informatics is a recent addition to Gulf medical curricula. This is the first study conducted in Saudi Arabia appraising medical students’ experience with an LMS, particularly as part of a relevant informatics course.
Objectives: This study investigates students’ use of various features of the LMS embedded in a recently implemented Medical Informatics course. We explore third year medical students’ attitudes towards the LMS as well as the issues and challenges faced, specifically the interactive tools required for this particular Medical Informatics course.
Methods: A mixed methodology was employed. Survey questionnaires were distributed to all third year Medical Informatics students at the end of the course. In addition, two focus group sessions were conducted with twelve students. A thematic analysis of the focus group was performed to identify patterns in the responses.
Results: A total of 265 third year medical students survey (63.01% male and 36.99% female) were completed and analyzed. Overall, 50.6% of the students agreed that ‘course was well planned’ and ‘up to date’, had ‘clearly stated’ objectives and ‘clear evaluation methods’, ‘ appropriate course assignment’, and that the LMS offered ‘easy navigation.’ Most of the students rated the course overall as good/fair. In general, females were 10.4% more likely to prefer using the LMS, as revealed by higher odd ratios (OR 1.104, 95%CI 0.858-1.42) compared to males. Survey results showed that students used LMS tools more having taken the course compared to before taking the course. The focus group, however, revealed that the students used social networking for general use rather than learning purposes, but they were using other resources on the Internet and mobile devices for learning. Male students showed a higher preference for using technology in general to enhance learning activities. Overall, medical student attitudes towards the LMS were generally positive. From focus group analysis, engagement can be improved by having the LMS embedded across all college courses as well as a route made available for official communications. Students also wanted a reminder and notification tool to help them stay updated with what is going on in the course. Interestingly, a subset of students had been running a parallel LMS of their own, whose features may be explored and integrated with the official LMS in the future.
Conclusions: Despite this being the first time a Medical Informatics course used LMS in the curriculum, students showed interest in adapting various LMS tools to enhance their learning, gaining better knowledge through familiarity with the tool. Researching the official LMS also revealed the existence of a parallel student-created LMS. This could allow teacher-led and student-led platforms to be integrated in the future for an enhanced student-centered experience.
Research Significance: Medical Informatics is a recent addition to Gulf medical curricula. This is the first study conducted in Saudi Arabia appraising medical students’ experience with an LMS, particularly as part of a relevant informatics course.
Objectives: This study investigates students’ use of various features of the LMS embedded in a recently implemented Medical Informatics course. We explore third year medical students’ attitudes towards the LMS as well as the issues and challenges faced, specifically the interactive tools required for this particular Medical Informatics course.
Methods: A mixed methodology was employed. Survey questionnaires were distributed to all third year Medical Informatics students at the end of the course. In addition, two focus group sessions were conducted with twelve students. A thematic analysis of the focus group was performed to identify patterns in the responses.
Results: A total of 265 third year medical students survey (63.01% male and 36.99% female) were completed and analyzed. Overall, 50.6% of the students agreed that ‘course was well planned’ and ‘up to date’, had ‘clearly stated’ objectives and ‘clear evaluation methods’, ‘ appropriate course assignment’, and that the LMS offered ‘easy navigation.’ Most of the students rated the course overall as good/fair. In general, females were 10.4% more likely to prefer using the LMS, as revealed by higher odd ratios (OR 1.104, 95%CI 0.858-1.42) compared to males. Survey results showed that students used LMS tools more having taken the course compared to before taking the course. The focus group, however, revealed that the students used social networking for general use rather than learning purposes, but they were using other resources on the Internet and mobile devices for learning. Male students showed a higher preference for using technology in general to enhance learning activities. Overall, medical student attitudes towards the LMS were generally positive. From focus group analysis, engagement can be improved by having the LMS embedded across all college courses as well as a route made available for official communications. Students also wanted a reminder and notification tool to help them stay updated with what is going on in the course. Interestingly, a subset of students had been running a parallel LMS of their own, whose features may be explored and integrated with the official LMS in the future.
Conclusions: Despite this being the first time a Medical Informatics course used LMS in the curriculum, students showed interest in adapting various LMS tools to enhance their learning, gaining better knowledge through familiarity with the tool. Researching the official LMS also revealed the existence of a parallel student-created LMS. This could allow teacher-led and student-led platforms to be integrated in the future for an enhanced student-centered experience.
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