Comparing the Effect of Video-cases and Text-cases on Medical Students' Learning in Tutorial

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Education, Medical; Education, Medical, Undergraduate; Problem-based Learning; Problem Solving; Interactive Tutorial

• Registration Number: NCT01286025
• Lead Sponsor: Harvard University Faculty of Medicine

Brief Summary

This study is designed to examine how the type of learning case affects the thinking of medical students in tutorial

Detailed Description

Tutorials at Harvard Medical School use problem-based learning with written cases. Students work in groups under the supervision of a tutor who guides their exploration of the material. As students progress through the curriculum there is an opportunity to advance the complexity of the material they are presented with. Video-based patient case studies have been shown to improve critical thinking ratios in paediatric medical student problem-based learning exercises, and time spent on data exploration, theory building and theory evaluation in postgraduate residency programs. We hypothesize that video provides a stimulus that improves cognitive processing and critical thinking among medical students, as compared to working from the text-based transcript of the same case.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2008-02
• Primary Completion: 2009-02
• Study Completion: 2009-02
• Status Verified: 2011-01
• Study First Submitted: 2011-01-27
• Study First Submitted QC: 2011-01-27
• Last Update Submitted: 2011-01-27
• Study First Posted: 2011-01-31
• Last Update Posted: 2011-01-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 28

Inclusion Criteria

• medical student participating in the endocrine and reproductive pathophysiology course at Harvard Medical School

Exclusion Criteria

• None

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: CROSSOVER

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Overall ratio of deep to superficial thinking	Four 90-minute tutorial sessions	Depth of thinking will be evaluated using the method of Kamin et al. Transcription of each tutorial will be divided into utterances. Each utterance will be coded for depth of thinking (deep vs. superficial). The ratio of deep to superficial thinking by case modality will be reported.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Distribution of learning activities	Four 90-min tutorial sessions	Transcription of each tutorial will be divided into utterances. Each utterance will be coded by learning domain (identification, description, exploration, integration, and application. The distribution of domains by case modality will be reported.
Preferences of students for each case modality	5 weeks	Students will be surveyed regarding their preferences for video- vs. text-based case presentation modality using a Likert-scale
Preferences of tutors for each case modality	5 weeks	Tutors will be surveyed regarding their preferences for video- vs. text-based case presentation modality using a Likert-scale

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Harvard Medical School; 🇺🇸 Boston, Massachusetts, United States