Comparing Effectiveness of Collaborative Blended Learning and Traditional Teaching Using Students Final Test Scores

Aim: To compare the test scores of Collaborative Blended Learning methodology versus traditional teaching among 4th year M.B.B.S students in the subject of Pathology. It was an Experimental study carried out in Department of Pathology, Lahore Medical and Dental College Lahore, from Jan to Mar 2017. Methods: Fourth year undergraduate medical students of Lahore Medical and Dental College attending Special Pathology Module of cardiovascular system, in year 2017 were randomly divided into two groups. One group (A) comprising of 75 students covered the topic in 8 didactic lectures of 45 minutes duration each and the other group B of 75 students in four CBLM sessions. Each session was of one hour and 30 minutes duration each. After completion of the cardiovascular Module, students took test comprising of problem based 30 MCQS and 4 SEQs regarding cardiovascular system. ALL the questions were of equal difficulty (C1-C3 level), covering the basic and clinical aspect of the topic. Students' scores in the test were compared by using paired sample t-test. We also found out whether there was any significant difference in their mean scores of final test with CBLM (among these students) with respect to their gender. This data was analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Results: When results of both groups were compared the final test scores were highly significant (p=0.000) in group B (CBLM) as compared to traditional teaching group A. Conclusion: Our study showed to have a significant impact of CBLM on student test scores as compared to didactic lectures. Majority of the female students scored more marks as compared to the male students of the class.