Comparison of effectiveness of WhatsApp and Facebook as learning tool for the students of a medical college

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of Facebook and WhatsApp as learning tools for undergraduate medical students in ophthalmology.

Methods: The quantitative, quasi-experimental study was conducted at Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College, Sialkot, Pakistan from October 2017 to March 2018, and comprised 4th year medical students. A pre-test of ophthalmology topics was taken and participants were divided into Facebook and WhatsApp groups by gender-based stratified randomisation. Four topics were taught through Facebook and WhatsApp to the relevant groups and post-test was taken using multiple choice questions. Data was analysed using SPSS 20.

Results: Of the 100 students, 35(35%) were males and 65(65%) were females. The overall mean age was 21.76±0.85 years (range: 20-24 years of. The two groups had 50(50%) subjects each. A significant difference was found between pre- and post-test results of both the groups (p<0.001). There was no significant difference between the groups (p>0.05) neither the baseline nor post-intervention. There was significant difference along gender lines (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Facebook and WhatsApp as learning tools had no significant difference in terms of impact on the learning process.