[Alice in the digital wonderland-pediatric teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic]

At the limits of digital education. The importance of practical education for clinical competencies learning in the field of emergency medicine: A controlled non-randomized interventional study

Introduction

A high-quality education of future physicians is essential. Modern approaches interlock the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in a spiral curriculum, leading to a mutual learning benefit for knowledge and application. This model was challenged by the elimination of hands-on trainings during the pandemic, which were often replaced by purely digital teaching models. Given the holistic nature of the spiral curriculum, we assumed that a purely digital model would have an impact on knowledge acquisition due to missing hands-on learning opportunities. The aim of the study was to investigate, using an emergency seminar as an example, whether purely digital training leads to a difference in theoretical knowledge compared to the traditional model.

Materials and methods

Study design: We used a two-groups design comparing a sample of medical students taught in 2020 with a purely digital teaching format (DF; n = 152) with a historical control group taught with a traditional format (TF; n = 1060). Subject of investigation was a seminar on emergency medicine, taking place in the 4th year. Outcome parameters: The primary outcome parameter was the students' acquired knowledge, measured by the score achieved in the final exams. Students' evaluation of the seminar was used as a secondary outcome parameter.

Results

Students in the DF group scored significantly lower than students in the TF group in the final exams. Students in the DF group rated the course significantly worse than students in the TF group.

Discussion

The study results illustrate that purely digital education leads to inferior knowledge acquisition compared to the traditional spiral curriculum. A possible explanation may lie in a deeper processing of the information (e.g., understanding the information by experience and analysis) and accordingly a better memory recall. Moreover, the students' critical appraisal of the DF may have had an unfavorable effect on learning performance. Moderating factors may be lower learning motivation or the “zoom fatigue” effect.

Conclusion

These study results clearly illustrate the importance of hands-on teaching for knowledge acquisition. The interlocking of theoretical knowledge and practical skills, as ensured by the spiral curriculum, is essential.

CoRad-19 - Modular Digital Teaching during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

PURPOSE

 During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, higher education worldwide had to switch to digital formats. The purpose of this study was to evaluate CoRad-19, a digital teaching tool created by the German Radiological Society for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

 A total of 13 German-speaking universities implemented CoRad-19 in their curriculum and partially or completely replaced their classes with the online courses. Previous experience and contact with radiology and the participants' opinions regarding the medium of e-learning were surveyed using a custom questionnaire. The subjective level of knowledge regarding the individual modules was also surveyed before and after participation to measure learning effects. The data of 994 medical students from the participating sites were analyzed and compared intraindividually using the Friedman test.

RESULTS

 From 4/1/2020-10/1/2020, 451 complete data sets from a total of 994 surveys were included. E-learning was rated "very useful" both before and after course participation (4 [IQR 3-4], p = 0.527, r = 0.16). E-learning as a method was also rated as a "very good" medium both before and after participation (4 [IQR 3-4], p = 0.414, r = 0.17). After participation, participants rated radiology as particularly suitable for digital teaching (before: 3 [IQR 3-4] vs. after 4 [IQR 3-4], p = 0.005, r = 0.6). Significant learning gains were measurable in all course modules (p ≤ 0.009). Post-hoc analysis showed interest in radiology to increase significantly after course participation (p = 0.02).

CONCLUSION

 In the representative survey, significant learning effects were observed in all course modules. In addition, it should be particularly emphasized that the students' interest in radiology was increased by course participation. Thus, the German Radiological Society provided significant support to German-speaking medical faculties with respect to maintaining excellent education using CoRad-19.

KEY POINT

· Co-Rad-19 course participation results in measurable subjective learning effects and increases student interest in radiology..

CITATION FORMAT

· Brendlin AS, Molwitz I, Oechtering TH et al. CoRad-19 - Modular Digital Teaching during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2022; DOI: 10.1055/a-1752-0624.