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Impact of co‐enrollment in computer‐based Human Physiology virtual laboratory on students' final lecture course grade: a follow‐up study
Author(s) -
Crecelius Anne,
Keller Joshua
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.688.3
Subject(s) - medical education , significant difference , class (philosophy) , mathematics education , medicine , psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence
At the University of Dayton, not all students who enroll in the upper‐level Human Physiology lecture course are required to take the accompanying computer‐based virtual laboratory (lab) course. Previously we had completed a retrospective pilot study to examine if co‐enrollment in lab had an impact on the final grade received in lecture. Final lecture course grades (as a percentage), lecture instructor, major, class year, and overall grade point average (GPA) were obtained for all students enrolled in physiology lectures. This previous study suggested there was not a significant difference in lecture score based on enrollment in lab. However, two different instructors taught lecture in the semester examined whereas in Spring 2014, one instructor taught both lecture sections. Thus, here we sought to extend our previous work with a larger sample that eliminated differences in lecture instructor and accordingly, the lecture schedule. Spring 2014 enrolled 55 students in 2 lecture sections, 13 of whom were co‐enrolled in lab. Lecture score was not different (lecture only: 87.6±0.8 vs lecture+lab: 87.3±1.5; p=0.82) between the two groups. When taken together with previous semester results, similar results were found in that there is no impact of co‐enrollment in the laboratory on the lecture grade [lecture only (n=72): 86.5±0.7 vs lecture+lab (n=37):86.4 ± 0.8; p=0.93). Similar to our prior findings, overall GPA was the strongest predictor of lecture grade. Given the present results, serious consideration is warranted as to whether the current computer‐based laboratory is beneficial to student learning of human physiology.