The Study of Effectiveness of Blended Learning Approach for Medical Training Courses

BACKGROUND Blended learning as a method of learning that includes face to face learning, pure E-learning and didactic learning. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of medical education by this approach. METHODS This interventional study was performed in 130 students at different clinical levels participating in class sessions on "congenital adrenal hyperplasia and ambiguous genitalia". Sampling was done gradually during 6 months and all of them filled a pretest questionnaire and received an educational compact disk. One week later, a presence class session was held in a question and answer and problem solving method. Two to four weeks later, they filled a posttest questionnaire. RESULTS There was a significant correlation between pretest and posttest scores and the posttest scores were significantly more than the pretest ones. Sub-specialized residents had the most and the students had the least attitude towards blended learning approach. There was a significant correlation between the research samples' accessibility to computer and their attitude and satisfaction to blended learning approach. CONCLUSION Findings generally showed that the blended learning was an effective approach in making a profound learning of academic subjects.