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Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, Vol. 29 (4) (2001) pp. 137-141
© 2001 IUBMB. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S1470-8175(01)00047-9

Article

Conventional teaching remains effective in teaching medical biochemistry in BPKIHS, Nepal, although students enjoy supplementary computer teaching

B.C. Koner a * bckoner@hotmail.com, M. Lamsal b, B.D. Banerjee c and N. Baral b

a Department of Biochemistry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry-6, India
b Department of Biochemistry, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal
c UCMS, Shahdara, Delhi, India

Abstract

A computer program down loaded from the Internet was used as a tutorial to teach the structure-function relationship of MHC molecule to MBBS students of BPKIHS, a medical college in Nepal. The computer-aided teaching session, with a facilitator from the biochemistry faculty, was found to be more interesting to the students although learning outcomes were not enhanced by comparison to sessions using only conventional tools. A non-subject expert presenting the computer tutorial failed to generate interest in the topic, and the achievement of learning objectives by the students was inferior. We conclude that the interaction with a biochemistry subject expert was crucial for success in our use of computer-aided teaching sessions on the structure-function relationship of proteins. The results are discussed with attention to the role of computer-aided instruction in medical colleges in a developing country (Nepal).

Keywords: Computer-aided learning; Facilitator; Subject expert; MHC; Structure-function relationship

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-413-372380-9 Ext. 5503; Fax: +91-413-372067

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