Dr Thomas Brendel from the Working Group for e-Learning at LMU Medical School in Munich, Germany, talks to eViP about the advantages of introducing podcasts into the medical curriculum.
In 2009, Thomas and colleagues published the results of a study on the effectiveness of podcasting in the medical curriculum. This study involved 240 third year medical students who were either provided with face-to-face lectures, podcasted versions of the lectures, or both. The podcasts covered internal medicine subject areas.
The results were very positive, as Thomas explains: “We saw the students who mainly used the podcasts were as good as the students who attended the lectures. And those who used both methods scored even better.” In fact, the podcasts were such a success that by the second half of the semester 70% of the students were using these online resources.
Thomas is now working to create educational videos to help students develop their clinical skills. “We’ve developed quite a few education films,” he says. “And we try to use new concepts to encourage better learning in the student. For example, making a dramatic movie in the sample, not just having basic educational movies. We’ll do something different.”
So do the students appreciate all these multi-media resources? “We did an evaluation study and we found that the majority of the students did like it,” says Thomas. “We’ve had a lot of good feedback. They appreciate it, and they demand more things to come.”
You can listen to Thomas talk to eViP here.
