Considering a New Approach of Teaching in University of Lagos: Perception of Final Year Medical and Dental Students

Abstract

Background: Case-based learning (CBL) is often a small group teaching method used to stimulate and underpin the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes through active involvement of the students. It is now promoted in many universities because it teaches important concepts and facts within the context of authentic or real-world situations. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the perception of final year medical students to a proposed new teaching method (CBL) in the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos (CMUL), Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: A total of 45 final year medical (34, 75.6%) and dental (11, 24.4%) students of the CMUL participated in this survey. They were taken through two cases using CBL coordinated by two different facilitators. Each teaching session took about 45 min.; thereafter they were required to complete a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire which collected information on socio- demographic characteristics, perception of the proposed new teaching method (CBL) and comparison with previous experiences of being taught with the traditional method (TM). The data were then collated and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010. Results: Most (29, 64.5%) of the participants were less than 25 years with a male to female ratio of 1:1. All the participants agreed that CBL fosters student-teacher interaction. The majority of the students agreed that CBL effectively fulfilled learning objectives (44, 97.8%), promoted student participation (44, 97.8%), encouraged teamwork (42, 93.3%), was relevant to their current level of study (42, 93.3%) and their future practice (42, 93.3%), and is likely to promote acquisition of knowledge (41, 91.2%) while only 35 (77.7%) felt it stimulated them to look forward to next class. All the participants opined that CBL is more interesting, makes learning fun, student-centred, encourages team work and is a better way of developing their critical reasoning skills. The TM of teaching was perceived by 30% of the participant as providing better factual knowledge on the subject matter. Three-quarters of the participants welcome the use of CBL for teaching in the CMUL. Conclusion: The majority of the final year medical and dental students of the University of Lagos found CBL to be beneficial in all the assessed parameters and overwhelmingly approved the use of CBL in the CMUL.