EVALUATION OF STUDENTS’ RESPONSE TO TEACHING METHODOLOGIES IN PHYSIOLOGY BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID PANDEMIC

*Dr. Ruchita Vasudeva, Dr. Namita Khanna, Dr. S.P.S. Sodhi

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Due to the Covid pandemic, there has been a marked shift in the teaching methodologies. E lectures have largely replaced didactic lectures taking place physically in a face to face interaction. How it has affected the students needs to be evaluated. Objective: This study was proposed to compare the students’ responses to previously used teaching methodologies with the current mode of e-lectures. Methods: 77 students of first year BDS course were taught various topics from their Physiology syllabus, using different teaching methods which included blackboard teaching, blackboard teaching with notetaking, powerpoint teaching and powerpoint teaching with note taking initially. The Covid pandemic set in and further lectures were conducted online, and the study was continued, including the e-lectures in the teaching methodologies. The students’ responses were collected with respect to whether they grasped the concept, found lectures interesting, found the matter clear and easy to understand and rate their satisfaction on a Likert scale, ranging from very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, unsatisfied to very unsatisfied. Students’ consent was obtained prior to the study. The responses obtained from them were tabulated. Results: 85.7% found it easy to grasp concepts during e-lectures. 75.32% of students found e-lectures interesting. 72.72% of students rated powerpoint without notetaking for matter being clear and easy to understand. Only 15.6% students found it easy to take notes. In grading satisfaction, the highest percentages of very satisfied were 25.97% for e-lectures, satisfied were 38.96% for e-lectures, closely followed by 37.66 % for both blackboard teaching with note taking and powerpoint teaching with note taking. 59.74% were neutral for powerpoint lectures without notetaking. For unsatisfied grade, 37.66% opted for blackboard teaching without notetaking, while for very unsatisfied grade, 14.28% opted for blackboard teaching with notetaking. Conclusion: The students rated e-lectures better for grasping concepts and most found e-lectures interesting. While they rated powerpoint lecture without notetaking for matter being clear and easy to understand, the percentage for e lectures was also not far behind. The students had good satisfaction level with the e-lectures. It is postulated that the students favored this mode of teaching because these lectures could be viewed again and again at the students’ convenience. The limitations of the study were identified as the lack of supervision during the e-lectures, and the fact that different topics were chosen for different teaching methodologies. Overall, blackboard teaching was preferred least and although majority of the students found it difficult to take notes, they also found notetaking helped to make the matters clear and easy to understand. This study offered a unique opportunity to compare the same students’ responses to different teaching methodologies employed before and after the pandemic.

Keywords: Covid pandemic, teaching methodologies, dental students, physiology.