Evaluation of synchronous versus live instructional delivery methods on student academic outcomes and perceptions at a multi-campus school

Objectives: To compare student academic performance from live and synchronous case-based active learning sessions between a satellite and main campus. The secondary objective was to evaluate student perception of instructional delivery methods. Methods: Students were taught infectious diseases through patient cases delivered either synchronously to both campuses or live at each campus. Student performance was assessed by examination grades. Student perception of content delivery methods was evaluated using a survey. Results: Students performed better on examinations that pertained to content that were delivered live. The average examination grade for live and synchronous course material was 72.2% and 62.2%, respectively. In the main campus, 81.5% of students preferred live lectures. In the satellite campus, 66.7% of students preferred synchronous education. Overall, students agreed that synchronous cases helped them prepare for graded assessments. Conclusions: Both campuses differed in their preference of instructional delivery methods. Though there was a higher examination score with the live cases, this could be due to the nature of the disease states tested and the small number of synchronously taught cases. Further evaluation of these delivery methods need to be done to confirm these results and to better utilize resources as multi-campus universities continue to grow. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.