A randomised trial of an online lecture with and without audio.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of adding audio-feed to an online lecture on screening given to medical students who were participating in an outpatient clerkship. DESIGN: Prospective, randomised, controlled study. SETTING: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville and Wake Forest Medical School, Winston-Salem. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 59 Years 3 and 4 medical students. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Students' use of time, satisfaction with the lecture experience, and knowledge. Educational intervention The online lecture was developed at Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, 16 Year 4 medical students were randomised to the lecture on screening with audio and 17 Year 4 medical students were randomised to the same lecture without audio. At Wake Forest, 13 Year 3 medical students were randomised to the lecture on screening with audio and 13 Year 3 students were randomised to the same lecture without audio. RESULTS: The audio lecture required 20 more minutes to complete than the non-audio lecture. Students in the audio group were more satisfied with their experience than students in the non-audio group. Students in the audio-feed group achieved a trend for higher post-intervention knowledge scores, with the difference attributed to the students at Vanderbilt. CONCLUSION: Audio narration is an important aspect of an online lecture. The distribution of online lectures to students at different sites and different training levels requires further study.