[E-learning about dementia: a randomized study]

Curricular medical training on dementia at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Erlangen comprises of a traditional lecture. This setting was compared with two different E-Learning formats using a randomized study design.

104 students (average age 26.3 +/- 3.6 years) were randomized into 3 groups: Interactive e-Learning; virtual lecture (slides and audio) and standard lecture (control group; 90 minutes).

Overall, the response rate was 40.4 %. Assessment of formal knowledge using a multiple-choice test yielded no differences between the three groups. In the students' evaluation, the interactive e-learning showed the best results (1.86 +/- 0.69), followed by the standard lecture (2.0 +/- 0.71) and the virtual lecture (2.6 +/- 0.8). Nevertheless, the students would not prefer e-learning to the standard lecture when both methods are directly compared.

Our findings suggest that e-learning is equivalent to a standard lecture when formal knowledge is assessed. Evaluation results are best for interactive e-learning formats. The detailed reasons for the preference of different learning styles should be further investigated.