A media comparison study on first aid instruction

Abstract

Aims: A basic knowledge and understanding of first aid can be invaluable for both teachers and students to be able to provide emergency care in the event of an accident, possibly saving lives and minimizing injury in school settings. The purpose of this research was to perform a comparison of online and face-to-face delivery modes for an introductory first aid course to determine if there existed a difference in student teachers’ success depending on the delivery modes. Methods: The research compares participants’ achievements in a first aid class taught by the same instructor using either face-to-face or online delivery modes. In total, five sections of the course were assigned to either a face-to face or an online treatment condition. Results: The results of a paired samples t-test indicated that student teachers both in experiment and control groups performed adequately to attain the course goals ( p < .05). The difference between the mean scores of all groups in pre- and post-tests verified the achievement of the participant learners. The results of a further independent t-test on groups’ performances on the post application of the achievement test showed a significant variance in favour of participants who received online teaching ( p < .05). Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest that, while both online and face-to-face mode can be effective in achieving learning goals of first aid content, online learning was found to be more effective in comparison to traditional classroom instruction.