%0 Journal Article
%T Computer-based teaching is as good as face to face lecture-based teaching of evidence based medicine: a randomised controlled trial
%A James Davis
%A Evi Chryssafidou
%A Javier Zamora
%A David Davies
%A Khalid Khan
%A Arri Coomarasamy
%J BMC Medical Education
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6920-7-23
%X This was a randomised controlled trial involving six postgraduate education centres in the West Midlands, U.K. Fifty five newly qualified foundation year one doctors (U.S internship equivalent) were randomised to either computer based sessions or an equivalent lecture in EBM and systematic reviews. The change from pre to post-intervention score was measured using a validated questionnaire assessing knowledge (primary outcome) and attitudes (secondary outcome).Both groups were similar at baseline. Participants' improvement in knowledge in the computer based group was equivalent to the lecture based group (gain in score: 2.1 [S.D = 2.0] versus 1.9 [S.D = 2.4]; ANCOVA p = 0.078). Attitudinal gains were similar in both groups.On the basis of our findings we feel computer based teaching and learning is as effective as typical lecture based teaching sessions for educating postgraduates in EBM and systematic reviews.Lecture based teaching is common in postgraduate and continuing education. Computer based teaching sessions have advantages over lectures: they are more flexible for doctors to fit into their work and learning programme; there is the ability to pause or revisit areas of the session; they have more learner led interaction; hyperlinks and additional materials can be provided instantly for the learner; they address the issue of standardizing the quality of teaching materials across a region; and they deal with the cost and logistical difficulties of specialist lecturers teaching large numbers of students in different locations [1,2]. Existing studies of knowledge and attitudinal gain by computer based teaching have mainly been at undergraduate level [3-5].Education of undergraduate medical students can be enhanced through the use of computer assisted learning. Educationally it would be a mistake to apply these findings to postgraduates. Many trainers mistakenly believe that the two groups learn in the same way but this is not true. Adult learning theory suggests t
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/7/23