Are audiotapes cheaper than lectures?

First year pre-clinical medical students were taught about blood grouping and haemostasis using four audiotapes and associated booklets as the sole method of formal instruction. The audiotapes were readily accepted by the great majority of students as a replacement for lectures and those who listened to the tapes scored significantly higher in a multiple choice test 10 months later than did a previous years's student who had covered the same topics by means of lectures. If booklets are provided for each student, tapes are more expensive than lectures in terms of the time and running costs involved. By contrast, if booklets are sold or made available on loan with the audiotapes, then costs become equivalent when tapes are distributed to four to six average-sized medical schools and become increasingly cheaper as the number distributed increases. Other less readily quantifiable benefits of audiotape learning are discussed and it is concluded that in terms of both costs and effectiveness of learning, audiotapes can usefully replace a proportion of lectures in a conventional course. Consideration should be given to the provision of more space for audiotape tuition and less for formal lectures.