Abstrato

Application software on malaria for self-learning students

Manas Kotepui, Kwuntida Uthaisar Kotepui

Objective: This study aims to develop application software about malarial infection and to compare the efficiency of the application software with a paper-based learning method. Methods: Application software containing malaria topics was developed by a software developer. The study participants were divided into two groups according to their learning performance. Before learning the material, all participants were tested with the same pre-test. The two groups used the application software and a paper-based method and performed a post-test. Differences between pre- and post-learning by two methods were compared using statistical software. Results: The result showed that ninety-four participants were enrolled in this study. Forty-seven participants (50%) learned about malaria using the application software, while forty-seven (50%) learned about the same topic using the paper-based method. The mean score of the post-test for both learning methods was significantly higher than the pre-test (p value<0.001). The results also indicated a statistical significance between the post-test score of 1st-year medical technology students and 2nd-year medical technology students (p value<0.001). Conclusions: Comparison between learning by using the application software and by using the paperbased method indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the two learning methods provided.