Media Matter: The Effect of Medium of Presentation on Student's Recognition of Histopathology

Introduction: Pathology teaching has undergone transformation with the introduction of virtual microscopy as a teaching and learning tool. Aim: To assess if dental students can identify histopathology irrespective of the media of presentation and if the media affect student's oral pathology case based learning scores. The perception of students towards "hybrid" approach in teaching and learning histopathology in oral pathology was also assessed. Materials and Methods: A controlled experiment was conducted on year 4 and year 5 dental student groups using a performance test and a questionnaire survey. Results: A response rate of 81% was noted for the performance test as well as the questionnaire survey. Results show a significant effect of media on performance of students with virtual microscopy bringing out the best performance across all student groups in case based learning scenarios. The order of preference for media was found to be virtual microscopy followed by photomicrographs and light microscopy. However, 94% of students still prefer the present hybrid system for teaching and learning of oral pathology. Conclusion: The study shows that identification of histopathology by students is dependent on media and the type of media has a significant effect on the performance. Virtual microscopy is strongly perceived as a useful tool for learning which thus brings out the best performance, however; the hybrid approach still remains the most preferred approach for histopathology learning.