THE USE OF E-LEARNING IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN THE SUBJECT "METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH" FOR BACHELOR'S DEGREE PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS IN MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW IN POLAND

Background A pilot programme of the "Methodology of research" e-course was held for the first time in the Medical University of Warsaw among nursing students in the academic year 2011/2012. The opinions of students on the e-course were analyzed and some corrections in the new version of the "Methodology of research" e-course were made. A new programme of the "Methodology of research" course based on e-learning was started for Bachelor's degree Physiotherapy students at the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw in the academic year 2012/2013. Students obligatorily participated in an on-line original course which covered teaching content of the "Methodology of research" course divided into several thematic modules. The aim of the study The aim of the study was to analyse the opinions of Physiotherapy students, Medical University of Warsaw on the application of on-line teaching in the process of improvement of teaching quality of the "Methodology of research" course. Material and methods As many as 78 Physiotherapy full-time Bachelor's degree Physiotherapy students (62 women and 16 men) of the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw participated in the study. The mean age of the study group of students was 22.04 years of age (SD: 0.47; max. 24; min. 21). An anonymous questionnaire was put on a Moodle e-learning platform in the form of a link to an e-form. The participation in the survey was voluntary and was not connected with passing the "Methodology of research" course. The link to the questionnaire was put at the end of the e-learning course below the teaching-related materials used by the students during the course. Only the students participating in the course had an access to the questionnaire. The analysis of the results was presented with the use of descriptive statistics (the number of participants, the percentage of participants). Results According to 66 (84%) students, e-learning courses improved the teaching quality of the "Methodology of research" course. 70 (89%) persons perceived the learning content as interesting. In the opinion of 50 (64%) persons a student participating in an e-learning course devotes more time to studying compared with traditional classes. According to 69 (88%) students e-learning courses included very helpful and useful learning content and definitely made it easier to prepare a diploma project. In the opinion of the whole group of students, the learning content included in on-line courses should be available during all years of studies, which would increase their usefulness for students. Conclusions 1. A teaching programme based on e-learning with the use of modern Internet technology has improved the teaching quality of the "Methodology of research" course. 2. "Methodology of research" e-courses should be improved in each consecutive edition with acknowledgement of opinions of students since these opinions often include very valuable remarks for lecturers in order to improve courses as well as their quality and usefulness. 3. The study on students' opinions on e-learning should be continued on a regular basis in the consecutive years with a larger group of students. Such studies will make it possible for lecturers to check whether the improvement of a course according to students' suggestions indeed increased the quality of a course.