gms | German Medical Science

Objective: Medical communication training is of crucial importance for medical professionals [1]. In our age of digitalization, such training often includes contemporary e-learning methods. When students participate in an online training, their course acceptance can be influenced by student- and course-related factors. Student-related factors include topic interest and attitudes towards e-learning. Course-related factors include extraneous cognitive load (determined by the complexity of instructional design) and germane cognitive load (related to processing of learning material), as they were shown to be important for learning [2]. In this study, we investigate relationships between students’ course acceptance and student-related and course-related characteristics.

Methods: Medical students in their 3^rd academic year (N=175) participated in the study. Before the course, topic interest and attitudes towards e-learning were measured, as they represent general student-related characteristics not yet influenced by the specific course. After the course, cognitive load and students’ course acceptance are measured, as they are related to the course itself, its structure and usefulness. Prior to data collection, hypotheses specifying relationships between the course acceptance and the other variables were formulated. Linear regression and moderation analyses are used for hypothesis testing.

Results: To date, the results of linear regression analysis support two hypotheses: There is a significant positive relationship between germane cognitive load created by the course and students’ course acceptance (β=.40, p<.001) and a significant negative relationship between extraneous cognitive load created by the course and students’ course acceptance (β=-.48, p<.001). Next steps include testing the hypotheses about relationships between topic interest and students’ course acceptance and attitude towards e-learning and students’ course acceptance, as well as hypotheses on moderating effects of topic interest and attitude towards e-learning on relationships between cognitive load and students’ course acceptance.

Discussion: The first results underline the importance of taking the different forms of cognitive load into account in the design of online courses. Additional results regarding the role of attitudes towards e-learning and topic interest will be presented as a part of the current study. Further research with larger samples will be beneficial for exploring the topic of students’ acceptance of online medical courses.

Take home messages: The results of the study show that for designing effective online courses in medical communication, extraneous cognitive load should be reduced while germane load should be feasibly increased. These results are widely applicable as – for reasons of sustainability – existing online materials can also be transferred and implemented at other universities.