An analysis of online teaching and learning resources used for learning in a clinical programme

Abstract

Introduction: E-learning is being used more and more for teaching and learning as it has been shown to have positive impacts on facilitating and enhancing students’ learning. Understanding students use, the relation of e-learning to learning outcomes and students perceptions to online learning will offer insights to plan and implement enhanced online learning resources.

Objectives: To evaluate the use of e-learning resources at a dental school in Hong Kong and the potential insights and impact that these have to improve and enhance teaching and learning.

This research has four research chapters:

Chapter 1: A systematic review was performed which examined the use of e-learning analytics data in health care studies with regard to how the analytics is reported and if there is a relationship between e-learning analytics and learning outcomes. 537 papers were screened, and 19 papers were identified. Significant statistical results of the relationships between e-learning usage and learning outcomes were reported and recommendations made for future research. Over half of the selected papers appeared to have vague definitions and lack of detailed information from what was recorded in the learning analytics.

Chapter 2: This chapter explored and quantified learning analytics regarding undergraduate dental students’ use of an online learning management system incorporating both learning and non-learning resources, within and across four years of cohorts. An increased access to learning resources was found over time, with the greatest being observed in the most recent cohort. PBL access was the highest for all cohorts. Issues relating to current e-learning resources usage were identified and formed the basis for recommendations to help stakeholders in teaching, learning and research. The learning analytics captured by this current LMS lacked some functionality to record the time spent on learning resources like watching videos which might be critical in understanding usage.

Chapter 3: This chapter explores the relationship of students’ e-learning access for a healthcare psychomotor skills course, approaches to learning (R-SPQ-2F psychometric) and academic achievement. An understanding of a relationship of these may help in identifying academically at-risk students and support can be given. Deep learning approach was the strongest factor (β=.270; p=.004) to predict academic achievement. Video and quiz access were moderately correlated (r=.60; p<.001) to each other. However, content of the video and quiz were not aligned to the exam and is likely the reason behind the insignificant relationships.

Chapter 4: Students who watched a video of authentic examiner-examinee dialogue in relation to a key stage in a clinical competence assessment were interviewed using stimulated recall. A thematic analysis revealed five key themes: analysis and judgement, observational learning from expert dialogue, observational learning from student dialogue, self-efficacy, and empathy. Students’ responses from the interviews revealed significant impact on their learning and experience from this new genre of video relating to self-evaluation in a clinical skill competence test.

Conclusion: The results give insights, evidence and guidelines to teachers, researchers, curriculum managers and policymakers how to better plan online learning and resources, as well as research and insights into a novel video pedagogy.