Perspectives of Medical Students & Teachers Regarding the Use of Different Lecture Methods

Background: Teaching methods used for lectures are mostly teacher-centered and not learner-centered. The method used for lectures is mainly determined by the teacher as per his/her convenience. The students are never asked about the lecture method which helps them in better learning. This can lead to poor understanding by students which in turn may hamper the learning process. Objectives: To find out the perspectives of students & teachers about the use of different lecture methods. Methodology: Views & opinions of 488 medical students & 47 medical teachers of a medical college about different types of teaching methods namely Traditional (chalk and board), over head projector and power point presentation were collected in an observational study with the help of separate questionnaires. Results: Most of the students (51.6%) prefer traditional method for the lectures, 54.9% have better understanding with traditional method (p<0.05), 61.5% students feel that they can concentrate more with traditional method (p<0.05) while 58% students feel that it is easy to note down important points with the help of Power point presentation (p<0.05). Large proportion of teachers (78.7%) prefer Power point presentation for classroom teaching, 76.6% teachers are willing to change to other method of classroom teaching if required, 80.5% teachers would like to have their performance monitored for self evaluation & self improvement. Overhead projector is neither preferred by students nor teacher as a teaching tool. Conclusion: A combination of traditional and power point presentation is preferred by the students for a better teaching-learning process.

Keywords: Lecture; Chalk and talk; Powerpoint.