Effectiveness of seminar as an educational tool among the undergraduate medical students: A study

Abstract

Background: The faculty of medical colleges have a greater responsibility in making the study methods of their subject innovative, interesting and participatory for the under graduate students. One such method is organizing seminars for the undergraduate students. Objective: To assess effectiveness of student seminars as a teaching learning method in the undergraduate medical curriculum. Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, Malla Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad on a group of 150 students. This study assesses the role of seminar as teaching-learning tool by recording the effectiveness and perception of medical students on seminars through a pre-test/post-test evaluation and questionnaire-based survey. Results: A highly significant improvement (p<0.001) was observed among the medical students after the seminar sessions based on pretest and posttest analysis. 85% of the students reported that they found the seminars to be an interesting method of gaining knowledge. 78% of them felt seminars could be a good associated T/L method along with didactic lectures. 88% felt they got to learn new things from their peers in the seminar group. All the students who presented were of the opinion that seminar improved their communication skills, learned to make a formal scientific presentation and gained self-confidence after presenting the seminar. Conclusion: Seminars can be used as effective teaching learning method in the medical curriculum for a better understanding and outcome among the medical students.