A comparison of instructional methods used in college-based medical-technology programs.

This study was concerned with comparing instructional methods used in three schools, the University of Utah, Utah State University and Weber State College, in training Medical technologists. The University of Utah medical technology group consisted of 28 students. The instructors were practicing medical technologists from the University Medical Center Laboratory and they employed an instructional model similar to the classical lecture and demonstration method. The Utah State University group contained 16 students and also employed the classical lecture and demonstration model. The instructor was a Doctor of Microbiology on the college faculty with no previous training in medical technology. The Weber State College group contained 17 students. The competency based educational model was used with this group. The instructor was a medical technologist on the faculty of the Department of Health Occupations. In order to compare these three instructional methods, a module was designed around one specific component of basic hematological knowledge, the different blood count. Included in the module was: (1) topic; (2) suggested teaching and student preparation time; (3) description of tests and sample test items; and (6) learning resources available. Statistical comparisons were computed on scores of pre tests, post tests and gain scores between pre test and post test scores. Analyses of variance, t tests and Newman-Keuls two-step comparison of the means were used to evaluate the following: 1. Differences, if any, across the three colleges on pre test scores of students enrolled in the Introductory Hematology classes. 2. Differences, if any, across the three colleges on post test scores of students after exposure to the three instructional methods. 3. Differences, if any, across the three colleges on gain scores of students taught by the three instructional methods. The results of these analyses are summarized below: 1. Post test scores of all three groups were significantly higher than pre test scores (p<.001) regardless of instructional methods used. 2. Significant differences among the three groups were obtained for pre test scores (p <.01), post test scores (p < .001) and gain scores (p<.001). 3. Both Utah State University and the University of Utah groups obtained significantly higher mean scores than the Weber State College group (p<.01) on the pre test. Differences between the University of Utah and Utah State University groups on the pre test were not significant. 5.Both the University of Utah and Weber State College groups obtained significantly higher mean scores than the Utah State University group (p <.01) on the post tests. Differences between Weber State College and the University of Utah groups on the post tests were not significant. 6.The significant difference in scores on the pre tests between the University of Utah group and the Weber State College group was not reflected in differences in gain scores as their mean gain scores did not differ significantly.