CCTV Guided teaching in Histology – An Outcome Based Study

Background: For ages, histology has always been a constant, a fundamental part of the biomedical curriculum. Despite its ardent importance, it remains tedious and challenging for our first-time learners. Histology has always relied on technology, which has brought significant changes to teaching methods. CCTV-guided histological teaching is one such remarkable visual aid. Satisfactory learning outcomes determine the quality of teaching aid. Students' perceptions and evaluations of learning outcomes as a measure of the success of a teaching aid. This Study was conducted keeping these facts in consideration. The objective is to analyze whether CCTV-guided histology teaching, when combined with traditional blackboard teaching, is effective in stimulating students’ interest and perceptions of learning histology and increasing their long-term retention capacity. Material and Methods: A prospective study was conducted among 150 first-year undergraduate students without prior histology experience. The students were first briefed on epithelial histology using PowerPoint and a blackboard. Following that, they were asked to identify the respective slides under the microscope. By the end of the practical session, they filled out a standardized feedback questionnaire. In subsequent practical classes, Blackboard teaching was reinforced through CCTV-guided histology instruction (Figure 1) on cartilage histology. At the end of the lab session, the process was followed to assess their ease of learning histology. In addition, Students were asked to complete a feedback questionnaire to determine their preferred mode of histology instruction. After a 3-month gap, without prior announcement, histological images of epithelium and cartilage were projected onto an LCD screen, and the students were assessed for retention. The results were analyzed using SPSS Software. Results & Conclusion: After analyzing the psychomotor and affective domains of the students, we found that students showed a positive attitude toward CCTV-combined teaching. The majority of the students agreed that CCTV facilitated understanding of the intricate details of tissue architecture, kindled their interest in histology, and enabled them to identify structures more readily. In addition, knowledge retention was found to be 52% higher when taught with CCTV.

Keywords: CCTV-guided teaching, Histology, Medical education, Teaching aids.