No More Live Lectures - Quixotism or Realism-? Association between Learning Preferences and Attendances at Live Lectures

Background: The increasing decline in medical students’ attendances at live lectures left educators with differing views on its acceptability.

Aim: The aim of this study was to look at the association between the medical students’ attendances at live lectures and their learning preferences and outcomes.

Study Design: University based, cross sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at International Medical University, Malaysia from April to July 2015.

Methodology: All the pre-clinical medical students (Year 2 and Year 3) were invited to participate in this study. A total of 776 students, Year 2 (397) and Year 3 (379) students participated in this study. The students’ recorded attendances at live lectures were compared to their (i) learning preferences; VARK (Visual/Aural/ReadWrite/Kinesthetic) and ASSIST (Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students) and to their (ii) performances at the summative examinations. Data was analysed using Pearson Chi-square test.

Results: A majority of medical students (54.8%) still attend live lectures. The attenders were mostly auditory (p=0.010) learners. Non-attenders at live lectures perform better in the examination compared to the attenders (p=0.003). Those who used online lectures as their aid to studying performed better in the examination (p=0.026).

Conclusions: Medical students still attend live lectures regularly. However, high performances at summative examination was associated with non-attendances at live lectures and the use of online learning/online lectures.