RESEARCH ARTICLE
Improving Education in Medical Statistics: Implementing a Blended Learning Model in the Existing Curriculum Natasa M. Milic1*, Goran Z. Trajkovic1, Zoran M. Bukumiric1, Andja Cirkovic1, Ivan M. Nikolic1, Jelena S. Milin1, Nikola V. Milic1, Marko D. Savic1, Aleksandar M. Corac2, Jelena M. Marinkovic1, Dejana M. Stanisavljevic1 1 Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, 2 Department of Public Health, Medical Faculty, University of Pristina, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia * [email protected]
Abstract Background OPEN ACCESS Citation: Milic NM, Trajkovic GZ, Bukumiric ZM, Cirkovic A, Nikolic IM, Milin JS, et al. (2016) Improving Education in Medical Statistics: Implementing a Blended Learning Model in the Existing Curriculum. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0148882. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148882 Editor: Oscar García, Universidad Europea de Madrid, SPAIN Received: October 29, 2015 Accepted: January 25, 2016 Published: February 9, 2016 Copyright: © 2016 Milic et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper. Funding: This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (project No.37016). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Although recent studies report on the benefits of blended learning in improving medical student education, there is still no empirical evidence on the relative effectiveness of blended over traditional learning approaches in medical statistics. We implemented blended along with on-site (i.e. face-to-face) learning to further assess the potential value of web-based learning in medical statistics.
Methods This was a prospective study conducted with third year medical undergraduate students attending the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, who passed (440 of 545) the final exam of the obligatory introductory statistics course during 2013–14. Student statistics achievements were stratified based on the two methods of education delivery: blended learning and on-site learning. Blended learning included a combination of face-to-face and distance learning methodologies integrated into a single course.
Results Mean exam scores for the blended learning student group were higher than for the on-site student group for both final statistics score (89.36±6.60 vs. 86.06±8.48; p = 0.001) and knowledge test score (7.88±1.30 vs. 7.51±1.36; p = 0.023) with a medium effect size. There were no differences in sex or study duration between the groups. Current grade point average (GPA) was higher in the blended group. In a multivariable regression model, current GPA and knowledge test scores were associated with the final statistics score after adjusting for study duration and learning modality (p
Improving Education in Medical Statistics: Implementing a Blended Learning Model in the Existing Curriculum Natasa M. Milic1*, Goran Z. Trajkovic1, Zoran M. Bukumiric1, Andja Cirkovic1, Ivan M. Nikolic1, Jelena S. Milin1, Nikola V. Milic1, Marko D. Savic1, Aleksandar M. Corac2, Jelena M. Marinkovic1, Dejana M. Stanisavljevic1 1 Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, 2 Department of Public Health, Medical Faculty, University of Pristina, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia * [email protected]
Abstract Background OPEN ACCESS Citation: Milic NM, Trajkovic GZ, Bukumiric ZM, Cirkovic A, Nikolic IM, Milin JS, et al. (2016) Improving Education in Medical Statistics: Implementing a Blended Learning Model in the Existing Curriculum. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0148882. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148882 Editor: Oscar García, Universidad Europea de Madrid, SPAIN Received: October 29, 2015 Accepted: January 25, 2016 Published: February 9, 2016 Copyright: © 2016 Milic et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper. Funding: This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (project No.37016). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Although recent studies report on the benefits of blended learning in improving medical student education, there is still no empirical evidence on the relative effectiveness of blended over traditional learning approaches in medical statistics. We implemented blended along with on-site (i.e. face-to-face) learning to further assess the potential value of web-based learning in medical statistics.
Methods This was a prospective study conducted with third year medical undergraduate students attending the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, who passed (440 of 545) the final exam of the obligatory introductory statistics course during 2013–14. Student statistics achievements were stratified based on the two methods of education delivery: blended learning and on-site learning. Blended learning included a combination of face-to-face and distance learning methodologies integrated into a single course.
Results Mean exam scores for the blended learning student group were higher than for the on-site student group for both final statistics score (89.36±6.60 vs. 86.06±8.48; p = 0.001) and knowledge test score (7.88±1.30 vs. 7.51±1.36; p = 0.023) with a medium effect size. There were no differences in sex or study duration between the groups. Current grade point average (GPA) was higher in the blended group. In a multivariable regression model, current GPA and knowledge test scores were associated with the final statistics score after adjusting for study duration and learning modality (p
