09 Apr Cross-analysis of teachers and students’ perceptions on the benefits of ICT integration in health sciences education in Bujumbura

L. Bazira, L. Ntakarutimana, F. Nkezabahizi, J. Niyonkuru, Y. Kamikazi, S. Butoyi, P. Nimubona, J. Nyandwi.

7th East African Health and Scientific Conference, 27-29 March 2019

Background/Introduction

ICT has become prevalent in the teaching of health sciences at a pace that has not left actors (students and teachers) time to prepare or train for better ownership and mastery. Today, it is interesting to know the steps taken.

Objective

To perform a cross-analysis of teachers and students’ perceptions on the benefits of ICT integration in health science education in BURUNDI.

Material & Method

It was a cross-sectional descriptive study targeting the teachers and a random sample of students from the Bujumbura Faculty of Medicine and the National Institute of Public Health. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire, then entered and processed using the Epi-Info software

Results

Among the 197 people who responded, 158 were students (80%) and 39 were teachers (20).

About 84% of the students had a personal computer and 45.6% a smart phone. The figures were of 97% for both computer and smart phone for the teachers.

About the benefits of ICT in the learning process, the opinion of teachers intersects with that of students on concepts like ICT enriches course content (97% and 96%), facilitates quick transmission of information (92% and 91) improves better understanding (90% and 85%), increases students’ motivation (87% et 88%) and offers students more opportunities to do more practice exercises (87% and 90%). For 2 concepts, the perception is different but remain highly appreciated for both sides: ICT increases interactivity (97% and 80% and students’ chances of success (74% and 90%). 65% of teachers versus 41% of students find that ICT increases student concentration.

Discussion

The discussion focused on the benefits of integrating ICT into teaching as perceived by teachers and students.

 Conclusion & Recommendation

Despite the context of underutilization of ICT, teachers observe a number of benefits for   learning process are confirmed by both the teachers and the students. Greater integration of ICTs would certainly increase more the quality of training.