On-line seminars in the education of Warsaw Medical University students

Introduction: The development of information technology enables us to use modern methods in the education process. Numerous universities have introduced e-learning, choosing one or more types of such form of teaching, including synchronized, asynchronized and complementary learning, as well as self-study. Purpose: To present the opinions of obstetrics students on the effectiveness of e-learning vs. traditional methods and of on-line classes in general. We also focused on outlining the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning as well as the areas of obstetric education in which on-line seminars could be used. Materials and methods: The project was executed in two stages. The first step was to familiarize the participants with distance learning and conducting synchronized on-line classes. The second stage was collecting data. The research tool was our own evaluation questionnaire, which included 13 questions: 8 closed and 5 open. Results: Most respondents have a positive opinion about e-learning and would recommend it to other students. The advantage stated most often by students was the possibility to learn from home. Conclusions: E-learning has many supporters and is believed to be equally or more effective than traditional educational methods. On-line teaching can be used for many theoretical subjects in the field of medicine