Comparison of Lecture and Network-Based Educational Methods on Improving the Academic Performance of Students; Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Print

Continuous virtual (electronic) learning is a method to strengthen the traditional approaches to education, but still there is not lot evidences about the evaluation of this method. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of two virtual (electronic) and traditional (lecture) educational methods on the level of learning of students.Instrument & In this quasi-experimental study in 2012, 202 undergraduate students of the Department of Public Health of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences who had epidemiology, epidemiology of common diseases, maternal and child health and reproductive health courses in the second semester of 2012 were entered to study by census method. Half of the subjects were presented by lecture and the rest in virtual form and the differences of students’ scores between educational methods were studied. Students’ viewpoint were also assessed via a researcher-made questionnaire. Student's T test and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data in SPSS 20 software. The mean scores of students was not significantly different between two methods (p>0.05). Virtual learning was appropriate in terms of achieving educational goals, content, methods, sequence and type of material and there was no significant relationship between the appropriateness of course content and learning objectives and number of errors in the final exam. Ability of students to work successfully with computer had significant relationships with success in working with e-learning system and computer test scores (p=0.001). Both methods of virtual (electronic) and lecture education have the same impact on the level of learning in students.