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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01286025

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

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

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Key information

Conditions

Education, Medical Education, Medical, Undergraduate Interactive Tutorial Problem Solving Problem-based Learning

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Harvard Medical School

Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States

About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

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

Exclusion criteria

  • None

Treatment and study plan

video case modality

Behavioral

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

Text case modality

Behavioral

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.

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall ratio of deep to superficial thinking

    Time frame: Four 90-minute tutorial sessions

    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.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Distribution of learning activities

    Time frame: Four 90-min tutorial sessions

    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.

  2. Preferences of students for each case modality

    Time frame: 5 weeks

    Students will be surveyed regarding their preferences for video- vs. text-based case presentation modality using a Likert-scale

  3. Preferences of tutors for each case modality

    Time frame: 5 weeks

    Tutors will be surveyed regarding their preferences for video- vs. text-based case presentation modality using a Likert-scale

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Harvard University Faculty of Medicine

Other

Registry information

Official study title

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

Important dates

Study start
2008
Primary completion
2009
Study completion
2009
First posted
Jan 31, 2011
Registry last updated
Jan 31, 2011

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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