¹Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia,

²Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia^,

³Department of Basic Science, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia

⁴Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia

Corresponding author Email: ubghaffar@gmail.com

Article Publishing History

Introduction

The arena of medicine is a very competitive field, and medical students encounter various teaching strategies over the course of their studies.. Medical institutions worldwide face the challenge of catering to a growing student population while maintaining the quality of education. Teacher-centered and student-centered approaches are broad categories of approaches to education. Lecture is a conventional teacher-focused strategy, though in a student-focused approach, students play a functional role in learning and concentrate on deep thinking (Lida and Mona, 2013). The introduction of technology in education has changed the way that ideas are delivered and conveyed. Electronic media like PowerPoint is becoming more and more popular in medical institutions (Muttappallymyalil et al, 2016). Research about efficient teaching techniques is a pressing issue, and the implications of this research can shape the nature of education (Jafri and Keramati, 2012, Withers et al 2016, ,AyeMon et al 2014, Raj and Kanagasabapathy, 2019).

Student evaluations of teaching methodologies contribute significantly to improving teaching standards. Students are the end beneficiaries of education, and their opinions regarding teaching methods are indicators of their satisfaction with a particular learning experience (Withers et al, 2016; Theall and Franklin, 2001). Papanna et al (2013) conducted a study involving 286 students and found that problem-based learning (PBL) was most favored (71.4%), while didactic lectures were the least preferred (32.8%). Blackboard was observed to be another favored teaching aid, preferred by 46.9% of students (Papanna et al, 2013). Salwani et al (2014) conducted a study involving 50 students. In his study, 72% of students chose lecture as the most-preferred teaching and learning method, tutorials were preferred by 10% of students, while 6% of students preferred PBL and practical respectively (Salwani et al, 2014).  Atif et al (2011) conducted a study involving 200 students and found that 40% of the students favored PowerPoint presentations as a reliable mode of teaching as it was interesting and interactive as compared to PBL (28.8%), audio-visual aids (18.6%), and Whiteboard (12%). Shreemanta et al (2013) conducted a study among 337 students and found that 77.02% selected standard lectures as the most efficient mode of teaching, followed by group discussion (68.02%), tutorials (58.94%), and seminars (49.05%)  (Shreemanta et al, 2013).

Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the perceptions and preferences of students regarding various learning methodologies used in medical colleges. Evaluating students’ opinions can help address student learning issues, identify students’ preferred learning methods, and help teachers improve the efficiency of their teaching. The findings of this study will help overcome deficiencies in medical education and improve the credibility of medical graduates as future caregivers.

Material and Methods

This is an observational, cross-sectional, and institution-based study employing a pre-validated, close-ended questionnaire. A total of 350 students participated in the study. The participants were all MBBS students at various stages of their studies. Approval for the study was granted by the ethical and research committee, allowing the participants to be approached for the study. Informed consent was obtained from every student and confidentiality was assured. A carefully designed questionnaire comprised of four sections was distributed among the students. In the first section, they were instructed to indicate their unbiased opinion regarding various teaching methods on a Likert scale ranging from 1–5 (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The respondents were asked to select the option that they believed was most appropriate. In the second section, they were encouraged to propose the reason they preferred a particular teaching method. The third section consisted of questions regarding students’ preferences for various teaching aids, including PowerPoint, Blackboard, various other audio-visual aids, and problem-based discussions. Finally, the fourth part was framed to elicit responses regarding student preferences for various evaluation methods used in examinations on a Likert scale ranging from 1–5 (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). There were clear instructions to participants not to disclose their identity nor to write any individualized remarks about staff members. Responses were collected from students within a time-bound period. On the basis of analysis and observation, results were extrapolated and were compared with other relevant literature.

Results and Discussion

Undergraduate medical education is undergoing major changes, and efforts are being made to make it more interesting (Desy et al, 2017). In our study, the majority of the medical students strongly agreed or agreed that teacher-centered approaches were better than student-centered approaches. Teacher-centered activities were defined as conventional lectures, whereas student-centered activities were teaching methodologies that promoted active student participation, such as small-group discussions, tutorials, and seminars prepared and delivered by students (Kim and Hwang, 2017). The student-centered approach has challenged the traditional role of teachers as experts in their field who thus determine how and what a student needs to learn (Vizeshfar and Torabizadeh, 2018).

Regarding the results of the first section of the questionnaire, which addressed students’ preferred teaching methods, 78.3% of students favored lecture, followed by small-group discussion (60%) and tutorials (46.9%). Seminar was the least popular teaching method (44.9%).

Table 1: Preference for Teaching Methods

Teaching method	Strongly Agree (5)	Agree   (4)	Neutral   (3)	Disagree   (2)	Strongly disagree (1)	Mean Likert- scale score
Lecture	83 (23.7%)	191 (54.6%)	50 (14.3%)	16 (4.5%)	10 (2.9%)	3.9
Seminars	46 (13.2%)	111 (31.7%)	99 (28.3%)	54 (15.4%)	40 (11.4%)	3.1
Small-group discussion	78 (22.3%)	132 (37.7%)	60 (17.2%)	54 (15.4%)	26 (7.4%)	3.5
Tutorial	50 (14.3%)	114 (32.6%)	88 (25.1%)	68 (19.4%)	30 (8.6%)	3.2

Figure 1: Students’ preferred teaching methods

The participants in our study favored lectures because they felt that they are more informative, their delivery by content experts with good communication skills and grasp of the subject matter made them interesting and beneficial, and students received more attention in these. This result is similar to those of the studies conducted by Zinski et al (2017); El-Belbasy et al (2018); and Stirling (2017). In contrast, the studies conducted by Schwartzstein and Roberts (2017); Ramnanan and Pound (2017); Abdul et al (2015); and Vimal et al (2015) showed that e – learning, flip method teaching and also small group discussion (as shown in fig. 2) were the preferred teaching mode. This is because they feel that it could enhance students’ reasoning, gives them the opportunity to provide their opinion, a good stage for student-teacher cooperation and develops confidence.

Table 2: Comparative overview of findings on student teaching-method preferences

Teaching Method	This study	Shreemanta et al	Salwani  et al.	Vimal  et al	Abdul  et al	Papanna et al.
Lecture	78.3%	77%	72%	67%	59.1%	32.8%
Seminar	44.9%	49%	–	48%	54.3%	–
Small group discussion	60%	68%	6%	89%	80%	71.4%
Tutorial	46.9%	58.9%	10%	57%	–	–

Figure 2: Comparative overview of selected studies on teaching methodologies with present study.

Figure 3 shows that small-group discussions were the selected as the best for interactive participation (36%). Tutorials scored highly for being informative (25.7%), and seminars scored highly for confidence-building (36.6%).

Figure 3: Reasons for teaching-method preferences

Figure 4 shows a graphical representation of the teaching tools included in our study. Many students, 48% and 46.6% of the participants, responded that PowerPoint was the best tool for learning and teaching, as it provides a better learning experience. A study conducted by Shigli et al (2016) concluded that PowerPoint presentations deliver a multisensory experience, foster better understanding of charts, diagrams, tables, and various other concepts and helps improve memory. McBride and Drake (2017) in their research, found an increase of 24% to 29% in classroom attendance as compared to a similar study done Aye Mon et al (2014).

PBL was the second most-favored teaching tool, with 26.3% respondents stating it to be their preferred learning method. A study conducted by Merritt et al (2017) showed that PBL increased students’ enthusiasm as it upgraded their reasoning skills, academic achievement, knowledge retention, conceptual development and attitude.

Figure 4: Perceived benefits of teaching aids

Figure 5 describes students’ preferred evaluation methods. The majority chose multiple-choice questions (MCQs) (58.6%), followed by short essay questions (52.3%). Long essay questions were rated the worst evaluation method, as only 6.2% of students strongly agreed with this method of evaluation. The finding is similar to a finding in a study (Ibrahim et al, 2015) conducted at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, wherein the majority preferred MCQs as their assessment procedure of choice. Contrary to our findings, Lalvarmawi et al (2015) found that majority of the students preferred revision cum self-study, tutorials, and terminal exams These students, for whom English is their first language, do not experience the language problem faced by Saudi students. Our participants’ mother tongue is Arabic, and they find it difficult to express themselves. Therefore, assessment approaches in Saudi Arabia need to be designed according to regional preferences.

Figure 5: Preferred evaluation methods

Conclusion and Recommendation

This study revealed that lecture-style teaching accompanied by the use of additional aids such as multimedia software presentations was the method most preferred by the participants. Participants emphasized that its benefits include increasing the clarity of teaching materials and offering a more engaging presentation style. They also welcomed the opportunity to have more interactive sections or student involvement during lectures. Therefore, we recommend that several similar studies be conducted among the wider community of medical students to discover innovative and effective educational interventions that will benefit medical students through identifying their concerns and preferences and formulating an action plan suited to their needs.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the kind suport from the Research Committee, College of medicine, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia without which this project would not have been possible.

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