BACKGROUND
WeChat and micro-courses have become important tools for improving medical education. However, most research just focused on one of them, and investigations about “WeChat + micro-courses” teaching mode were still lacking.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the use of WeChat and micro-courses in different majors of medical university students and to analyze the possibility of “WeChat + micro-courses” teaching mode.
METHODS
This investigation was conducted among 534 full-time undergraduates in Nanjing Medical University. A self-reported questionnaire was adopted to collect data. Data were entered and checked with EpiData 3.0 and were analyzed with STATA 13.
RESULTS
A total of 534 participants successfully completed the questionnaires. Most students in all majors used WeChat. More students in preventive medicine subscribed to OAs (Official Accounts) related to other majors (χ2 = 28.49, P < 0.01). In three majors, almost 80% of students spent less than 10 minutes or 10-30 minutes browsing OA articles every day. As for micro-courses, using frequency in biostatistics was significantly higher than that in preventive medicine and hygienic analysis and detection (χ2 = 16.68, P < 0.01). Plenty of students complained about the lack of interactions while learning with micro-courses.
CONCLUSIONS
It was promising to apply “WeChat + micro-courses” mode in medical education.