SUMMARY of a web paper by Gerry J Gormley, Kate Collins, Mairead Boohan, Ian C Bickle & Michael Stevenson (2009; 31: e6–e12):

Is there a place for e-learning skills? A survey of undergraduate medical students’ experiences and attitudes.

Compared to other learning domains, the clinical skills environment has been considered a challenging one for the implementation of computer assisted learning (Knutson et al. 2006). In a recent study, Gormley, Collings, Boohan, Bickle and Stevenson (2009), investigated the suitability of e-learning in this domain.

Overall, e-learning was found to positively impact students’ learning of clinical skills and it was considered comparable to other traditional methods of clinical skills teaching. More specifically, e-learning encouraged students to attend clinical attachments and to practice clinical skills on real patients; students found it useful with regard to revision and preparation for exams and to a lesser extent, for the purpose of revision before attending clinical teaching sessions. Students with these aforementioned traits, which are associated with a deep approach to learning, performed better in an objective, structured, clinical examination (OSCE) (Gravett, 2004a; Cannon & Newble 2000).

Research in the arena of learning theories and specifically the Constructivist view reveals that effective learning is further enhanced when learners have the opportunity to engage with one another in reflecting on the learning experience (Garrison & Archer, 2000). The on-line discussions, which enabled students to interact with their peers and teachers, as well as the on-line assessments, were both highly rated by participants in this study.

Learning styles is another component which plays a significant role in the degree to which students assimilate and retain new knowledge and skills. Considering that some students have a visual, others an auditory and still others a physical learning style (to name but a few), by making use of e-learning, students are afforded the opportunity to experience an increased number of new learning mediums. Clinical skills, such as procedural or technical skills as well as physical examination skills, are, by nature, visually intensive subjects. It is therefore not surprising that the results of this study indicate that the students who valued on-line videos and images the most performed better in the OSCE.

The results of this study and others on a similar topic, suggest that the delivery of a blended course, with access to e-learning, will enhance the overall learning experience of students (Childs, Blenkninopp, Hall & Walton, 2005; Ravenscroft, Tait & Hughs, 1998).