Comparing the Effect of Video-cases and Text-cases on Medical Students' Learning in Tutorial

A Randomized Crossover Study to Compare the Critical Thinking of Medical Students When Using Video-based or Written Cases

This study is designed to examine how the type of learning case affects the thinking of medical students in tutorial

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Problem-based Learning; Education, Medical; Problem Solving; Education, Medical, Undergraduate; Interactive Tutorial
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: video case modality; Behavioral: Text case modality

Detailed Description

Tutorials at Harvard Medical School use problem-based learning with written cases. Students work in groups under the supervision of a tutor who guides their exploration of the material. As students progress through the curriculum there is an opportunity to advance the complexity of the material they are presented with. Video-based patient case studies have been shown to improve critical thinking ratios in paediatric medical student problem-based learning exercises, and time spent on data exploration, theory building and theory evaluation in postgraduate residency programs. We hypothesize that video provides a stimulus that improves cognitive processing and critical thinking among medical students, as compared to working from the text-based transcript of the same case.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 28
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
      • Harvard Medical School

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• medical student participating in the endocrine and reproductive pathophysiology course at Harvard Medical School

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Video modality	Behavioral: video case modality; Patients whose case histories are pathophysiologically illustrative will be recruited, and interviewed on video. Their stories will be edited and divided into sections, and combined with the patient's laboratory, imaging, and pathological reports when appropriate
Active Comparator: Text modality	Behavioral: Text case modality; Patients whose case histories are pathophysiologically illustrative will be recruited, and interviewed on video. Their stories will be edited and divided into sections, and combined with the patient's laboratory, imaging, and pathological reports when appropriate. The transcript of these video-recordings will form the basis of the text-based case presentation modality.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall ratio of deep to superficial thinking	Depth of thinking will be evaluated using the method of Kamin et al. Transcription of each tutorial will be divided into utterances. Each utterance will be coded for depth of thinking (deep vs. superficial). The ratio of deep to superficial thinking by case modality will be reported.	Four 90-minute tutorial sessions

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Distribution of learning activities	Transcription of each tutorial will be divided into utterances. Each utterance will be coded by learning domain (identification, description, exploration, integration, and application. The distribution of domains by case modality will be reported.	Four 90-min tutorial sessions
Preferences of students for each case modality	Students will be surveyed regarding their preferences for video- vs. text-based case presentation modality using a Likert-scale	5 weeks
Preferences of tutors for each case modality	Tutors will be surveyed regarding their preferences for video- vs. text-based case presentation modality using a Likert-scale	5 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Harvard University Faculty of Medicine
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Graham T McMahon, MD MMSc, Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: February 1, 2008
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 1, 2009
• Study Completion (Actual): February 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 27, 2011
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 27, 2011
• First Posted (Estimate): January 31, 2011

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): January 31, 2011
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 27, 2011
• Last Verified: January 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: medical education; problem-based learning; interactive tutorial
• Other Study ID Numbers: M15700-101