Background
New approaches to e-learning and the use of virtual reality technology and serious game in medical education are on the rise. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of lecture method and virtual reality-based serious gaming (VRBSG) method on students learning outcomes about the approach to coma.
Methods
We adopted a randomized trial method for this study and selected 50 medical students dividing them into experimental and control groups. Students’ learning outcome was measured with a 10-item test. Serious game usability scale was used to evaluate the usability of the serious game. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis by SPSS-22 software.
Results
Students’ familiarity with e-learning and VRBSG was low. The mean usability of a VRBSG was 126.78 ± 10.34 out of 150. The majority of students were eager to be instructed through VRBSG. The mean score of learning outcomes in the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group (t = − 2.457, P = 0.019).
Conclusion
Students’ learning outcomes in the VRBSG group in the test approach to coma were significantly better than the lecture group. The usability of the serious game instruction method was high. Taken together, instruction through VRBSG had an effective role in medical students’ learning.
Background:The academic status of students makes up an essential component of educational assessments. Objectives: The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of basic science courses on the academic status of medical students in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), Kermanshah, Iran. Methods: The demographic information of the medical students collected in the present cross-sectional study over a three-year period included age, gender, quota for the Iranian university entrance examination (UEE), interval between receiving high school diploma and admission to university, type of high school diploma, high school GPA and score of specialized and general courses in the UEE. Moreover, the academic data included scores of courses, GPA of the basic science courses and score of the comprehensive basic sciences exam were collected using a questionnaire, and analyzed in SPSS V. 16 using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, Tukey's test and the chi-square test.
Results:The majority of the students (94.7%) had a high school diploma in experimental sciences and belonged to regions 2 (51.6%) and 3 (37%) of the UEE. Significant differences were observed between different groups of the students admitted to university in terms of age (P < 0.05), although no significant differences were identified in terms of gender, type of high school diploma, UEE quota and high school GPA. The highest scores of specialized courses in percentage in the UEE were associated with biology and chemistry. Significant correlations were also observed between the GPA of basic science courses and high school GPA in all the three groups of students admitted to university (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:The academic status and related factors were found to be nearly the same in the medical students of KUMS in three successive years of admission, and they were affected by constant factors, including high school GPA and GPA of basic science courses.
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