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www.ijbcp.com International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | February 2019 | Vol 8 | Issue 2 Page 316
IJBCP International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology
Print ISSN: 2319-2003 | Online ISSN: 2279-0780
Original Research Article
Impact of lecture delivery by using PowerPoint presentation and black
board and chalk in second year MBBS students in Pharmacology
Preetha Jose, Firoz Thaha*, Kavitha Varghese, Aruvi Poomali
INTRODUCTION
The efforts that go into making a doctor can be broken
down to two major aspects - diagnostics and therapeutics.
This makes the study of Pharmacology quintessential to a
medical student’s formative years. However, this subject
is oft regarded as challenging since it entails memorising
the names of various drugs, their mechanisms of action,
uses, adverse effects, drug interactions etc.1 Understanding
and retaining this substantial amount of information
demands effort from the student’s end. In the same
measure, medical educators are compelled to use every
teaching weapon at their disposal. Garg et al, has
emphasized the importance of lecture classes, as 75% of
the students in this study preferred studying Pharmacology
from both lecture notes and text books.2 As such, the use
of teaching aids for lecture delivery in medical colleges
have transitioned from the classical “blackboard and
chalk” to audio-visual aids, in particular PowerPoint
presentations. The latter is often perceived superior by
most students as well as teachers, as pictures and words are
more efficacious when they occur simultaneously.3
Despite the adoption of technology to facilitate learning,
one could question whether this has in fact translated into
a proportional improvement in the students’
comprehension of a topic and ability to recollect.
Examinations help us to quantify this; and whether
ABSTRACT
Background: The use of electronic media and audio-visual aids for teaching has
become increasingly common in medical colleges. This teaching method is
considered superior to blackboard and chalk by majority of the students and
teachers. But the quality of medical education has not drastically improved in
comparison. This study compares the impact of lecture delivery using PowerPoint
presentation as opposed to blackboard and chalk in medical students attending
pharmacology classes.
Methods: This was a cross sectional study done in the second year MBBS
students attending pharmacology classes in the Department of Pharmacology at
Government Medical College, Thrissur in the year 2017. Students were given
lectures on two similar topics, one using PowerPoint presentation and the other
using blackboard and chalk by the same teacher. The students were given a post-
test after each lecture and marks were analysed using Independent student’s t test.
A feedback was also taken from the students regarding the two lecture delivery
methods and the data is expressed in percentages.
Results: This study was done in 149 medical students who attended
pharmacology classes. The students scored significantly higher marks in the post-
test when the lecture was taken using black board and chalk (p <0.001). 58% of
the students preferred lecture delivery using PowerPoint compared to 38%
preferring black board and chalk. 4% of the students considered both methods
equally good.
Conclusions: Lecture delivery using black board and chalk was found to be more
efficacious than power point presentation when the marks of the post-tests were
compared. However, majority of the students preferred lecture delivery using
power point to blackboard and chalk.
Keywords: Blackboard and chalk, Lecture, Pharmacology, PowerPoint
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20190153
Department of Pharmacology,
Government Medical College,
Thrissur, Kerala, India
Received: 17 December 2018
Accepted: 10 January 2019
*Correspondence to:
Dr. Firoz Thaha,
Email: firozthoufeeq@
gmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s),
publisher and licensee Medip
Academy. This is an open-
access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution Non-
Commercial License, which
permits unrestricted non-
commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original
work is properly cited.
Jose P et al. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2019 Feb;8(2):316-319
International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | February 2019 | Vol 8 | Issue 2 Page 317
performance during examinations, by virtue of these
relatively newer methods, is enhanced is again unclear.4,5
Both methods have merits and demerits. This study aims
to compare the effectiveness of both lecture delivery
methods in medical students attending pharmacology
lectures.
METHODS
This was a cross sectional study conducted in the
Department of Pharmacology at Government Medical
College, Thrissur during the academic year 2017-18. This
study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee
on 13th January 2017. After taking permission from the
Head of the Department of Pharmacology, second year
MBBS students attending pharmacology classes during the
study period were included in the study. Students who
were absent were excluded.
A total of 149 second year MBBS students were given
lectures on two similar topics, one using Microsoft
PowerPoint presentation and the other using blackboard
and chalk by the same teacher. The students were first
given lecture using Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and
a post test for 10 marks was conducted. Then the students
were given lecture using black board and chalk and test for
10 marks was conducted. The marks of the post-test after
the two lectures were entered and analysed. A
questionnaire was also given to the students after the
lecture classes and their feedback was taken. They were
asked to identify the teaching methods preferred by them
and the reasons for the preference. They were also asked
to identify the difficulties encountered with the other
teaching method.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis was done using Statistical package for
social service (SPSS) software. Independent student’s t
test was done to analyse the marks obtained following each
lecture. Results were tabulated and significance was
expressed according to the p value, ˂0.05 - significant and
˂0.001 - highly significant. Students preferences between
the two teaching methods were expressed in percentages.
RESULTS
Table 1 compares the marks obtained by the students
(n=149) in the post-tests conducted after lectures using
PowerPoint presentation and blackboard and chalk. The
mean value is 6.21 with a standard deviation of 2.15 for
chalk and blackboard.
It is only 5.15 with a standard deviation of 2.44 for
PowerPoint presentation. Median value is 6.5 for chalk and
black board while it is only 5.5 for PowerPoint
presentation. Mode is 8 for chalk and black board and it is
7 for PowerPoint presentation. Mean, median and mode is
higher for chalk and blackboard compared to PowerPoint
presentation.
Figure 1 shows the distribution of marks from 0-10 among
the students. 70% of the students scored 50% and above
marks when taught using chalk and board. Only 56% of the
students scored 50% and above marks when taught using
PowerPoint presentation. This is reflected in this graph.
The graph for black board and chalk is more skewed to the
right in comparison to PowerPoint presentation, showing
that the number of students scoring higher marks is more
when taught using blackboard and chalk.
Table 1: Comparison of marks obtained by the
students in the post test.
Parameter
Blackboard and
chalk (n = 149)
PowerPoint
(n = 149)
Mean±SD
6.21±2.15
5.15±2.44
Median
6.5
5.5
Mode
8
7
SD - Standard Deviation
Table 2 compares the mean value of the marks obtained
after the two lecture delivery methods. The mean value is
6.21 with a standard deviation of 2.15 for chalk and black
board and 5.15 with a standard deviation of 2.44 for
PowerPoint presentation. When the means were compared
using independent students t test the p value is <0.001.
When the students were taught using blackboard and chalk
there was a highly significant increase in the marks
compared to PowerPoint presentation.
Series 1 - PowerPoint , Series 2 - Chalk and board.
Figure 1: Comparison of marks scored after
PowerPoint and chalk and board lecture.
Figure 2 shows the preferences of the students between the
lectures using chalk and blackboard and PowerPoint
presentation. 38% preferred blackboard and chalk. 58% of
the students preferred lecture delivery using PowerPoint
presentation, which is 1.5 times higher compared to
student’s preference for chalk and blackboard. 4% of the
students considered both methods equally effective.
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 5 10 15
Series1 Series2
Marks
Number of students →
Jose P et al. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2019 Feb;8(2):316-319
International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | February 2019 | Vol 8 | Issue 2 Page 318
Table 2: Comparison of mean of the marks scored after the two teaching methods.
Parameter
Blackboard and chalk (n = 149)
PowerPoint (n = 149)
t value
p value
Mean±SD
6.21±2.15
5.15±2.44
-3.963
<0.001
Figure 2: Student’s preferences between the two
teaching aids.
DISCUSSION
Effectiveness of a lecture is gauged by how much the
students have understood the core concepts and whether
they can reproduce the knowledge gained when examined.
In this study (n=149), the students scored significantly
higher marks when taught using blackboard and chalk (p
<0.001). When a cut-off was placed at 50% and above
marks, 70% of the students were able to score this when
blackboard and chalk were employed. In comparison, only
56% of the students scored ≥50% marks in the PowerPoint
group. This mirrors the results of three previous studies
conducted by Vikas Seth et al, Bamne et al, and deSa SB
et al, where marks were higher when taught using
blackboard.6-8 As for the students’ preference, more
students preferred PowerPoint presentation to blackboard
in the study by Seth V et al, and in another study by Ethel
LB et al, whereas blackboard was preferred in the studies
by Bamne et al, deSa SB et al, and Petimani MS et al.7-10 A
combination of audio-visual aids in lectures was the most
preferred teaching methodology in two other studies
investigating the same.11,12
In present study, there were more students (58%) preferring
PowerPoint presentation to blackboard and chalk (38%) as
per their feedback. In their opinion, PowerPoint
presentation was more colourful and visually appealing,
and the addition of videos and animations can make the
class more interesting. A practical aspect pointed out by
70% of the students was that they could take down notes
more easily, as the writing was clear and visible. But this
needs to be viewed cautiously as students may develop a
tendency of mechanically copying content from the slides,
instead of concentrating on the lecture delivered by the
teacher. In a study by Savoy et al, where retention of lecture
information with and without PowerPoint was analysed, it
was found that students retained 15% less verbal
information delivered along with PowerPoint presentation,
eventhough they preferred it over traditional
presentations.13
Whilst writing on a board, the handwriting of the teacher is
an important factor; and it may lack clarity, especially for
the students seated at the back of the class. This is often the
case for large batches and was experienced during our
study as well.
80% of the students opined that student-teacher interaction
was more with chalk and board lecture. On the other hand,
more topics could be covered in a shorter span of time
when PowerPoint was used. Nevertheless, 55% of the
students felt that speed of the lecture was adequate with the
chalk and board lecture.
In terms of effort required by both the teacher and the
student, this was also understandably less with PowerPoint.
With the blackboard, students were required to concentrate
more, as all the points could not be written with the chalk
by the lecturer in between explanations. A lapse in
concentration during the lecture could lead to difficulties in
grasping the rest of the topic. This kept them more
attentive, and 54% of the students expressed that they could
retain more information at the end of the chalk and board
lecture. This was also reflected in the post-test, where the
marks were significantly higher when taught using
blackboard.
CONCLUSION
Lecture delivery using PowerPoint presentation has its own
advantages, and it was the preferred method by majority of
the students in this study. It is more visually appealing, and
we can offer better diagrams, flow charts and videos to
complement our lectures. Interestingly, the students
understood the subject matter better and scored more marks
when taught using blackboard and chalk, which goes
against popular opinion. In the light of this, we suggest that
combining the two teaching methods would be more
effective than restricting oneself to any one method of
lecture delivery. This offers the best of both worlds and can
cater to students having different learning styles.
Funding: No funding sources
Conflict of interest: None declared
Ethical approval: The study was approved by the
Institutional Ethics Committee
38%
58%
4% Black board
Power point
Both
Jose P et al. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2019 Feb;8(2):316-319
International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | February 2019 | Vol 8 | Issue 2 Page 319
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Cite this article as: Jose P, Thaha F, Varghese K,
Poomali A. Impact of lecture delivery by using
PowerPoint presentation and black board and chalk
in second year MBBS students in Pharmacology. Int
J Basic Clin Pharmacol 2019;8:316-9.
