Comparison of the impact of powerpoint and chalkboard in undergraduate medical teaching: an evidence based study.

OBJECTIVE To compare the impact of the PowerPoint multimedia presentation and chalkboard in teaching by assessing the knowledge based on the marks obtained. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from December 2007 - June 2009. METHODOLOGY Three-hundred male medical students were divided into three groups and a selected content-based lecture in physiology was delivered. For one group lecture was delivered using PowerPoint presentation, for second group using chalkboard and for third group the lecture was delivered by using both PowerPoint as well as chalkboard. Single-best Multiple Choice Questions [MCQs] paper was used for assessing the knowledge gained. The same exercise was repeated in another medical science school for the confirmation of validity and reliability of the results. RESULTS Students who attended the class on both PowerPoint and chalkboard obtained significantly higher score in single best MCQ examination compared to those students who attended the same content based lecture on the PowerPoint or chalkboard alone (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION The integrated (PowerPoint and chalkboard) method of teaching was found more suitable tool of teaching and learning than PowerPoint or chalkboard alone.