A Comparison of the Learning Effects of Face-to-Face Versus Online Formats of a Clinical Reasoning Lecture

Objective This study investigated the different learning effects achieved through a clinical reasoning lecture that was simultaneously conducted via two formats: one format involved in-person face-to-face instruction, whereas the other provided remotely conducted online instruction. The lecture was based on a case presentation held at a participating university in 2015. Methods We compared the learning outcomes between the abovementioned formats based on participants' responses. Data were obtained using questionnaires distributed to eligible lecture attendees, including medical students and physicians who had graduated during the preceding 10 years. The questions were about the following aspects: the time duration of the lecture, degree of satisfaction with the online system (online attendees), and degree of satisfaction with the lecture content. The participants then completed a five question mini-test related to the disease from the presented lecture case to assess their overall degree of understanding. Results Online participants gave significantly higher scores for images in the online system (degrees of satisfaction: online 72.7 +/- 18.0 vs. in-person 55.6 +/- 24.9), audio in the online system (66.1 +/- 20.5 vs. 57.5 +/- 25.8), the usefulness of multiple venues (82.1 +/- 19.3 vs. 60.5 +/- 25.0), intention to attend the next lecture (82.3 +/- 19.0 vs. 65.8 +/- 21.4), and overall meaningfulness of the lecture in the online interactive format (83.6 +/- 16.3 vs. 72.6 +/- 19.6) compared with the in-person group. However, similar mini-test scores were documented between the two groups (4.2 +/- 0.7 for the in-person group and 4.3 +/- 0.7 for the online group; no significant differences were noted). Conclusions The results show similar learning effects, degrees of satisfaction, and degrees of comprehension between online and in-person lecture attendees. Our findings demonstrate that the online format is a suitable pedagogical intervention in the study context. Continued implementation and further studies are thus warranted to gain deeper insights into the topic.

Automated summary

This study investigated the learning effects of a clinical reasoning lecture conducted in-person and through remote online instruction. The results show that online participants had higher satisfaction scores for images, audio, usefulness of multiple venues, intention to attend future lectures, and overall meaningfulness of the lecture compared to in-person participants. However, there were no significant differences in mini-test scores between the two groups. This study highlights the suitability of online format as a pedagogical intervention in this study context.