Journal of Contemporary Medical Education DOI: 10.5455/jcme.20150621103305 www.scopemed.org J Contemp Med Edu ● 2015 ● Vol 3 ● Issue 2 53 A questionnaire based study on student preparedness to web 2.0 at I MBBS entry level Richa Gupta, Nikhilesh Singh, Henri Balraj K. ABSTRACT Objective: Various studies have reported the effectiveness of online teaching vis a vis traditional methods. But hardly have they reported whether the subjects involved in their studies have adequate access and working knowledge of computer/ internet and they do not provide the exact framework to assess the preparedness of the students. Before moving on to adopting new teaching tool, it is necessary to determine whether the students are aptly prepared to accept and utilize the tool. Methodology: This project was designed to assess the preparedness of students for Web 2.0 teaching at I year MBBS entry level in a medical college using a questionnaire of 14 items to be responded on a Likert format. The data was analyzed for individual item responses and factor loadings. Results: Two predominant constructs came out as determinant of preparedness of students. In our results, students were in favour of implementation of web 2.0 teaching but most were inadequately prepared for the same. Conclusions: In previous studies, there have been conflicting results regarding the superiority of internet based teaching over traditional methods. Studies reporting the effectiveness of web 2.0 tools should also report on student preparedness for determining the actual effectiveness of the tool. KEY WORDS: E learning, factor analysis; Likert, medical education, web 2.0 Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Rese- arch Institute, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Pondicherry, India Address for correspondence: Richa Gupta, Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Rese- arch Institute, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Pondicherry, India doc.richa83@gmail.com Received: April 15, 2015 Accepted: May 29, 2015 Published: June 24, 2015 Original Research INTRODUCTION The involvement of computers and internet in day to day life has become intricately involved with each and every aspect of life. From a very small to very extensive information can be easily obtained by access to internet. Apart from being a passive information gathering means, an interactive forum Web 2.0 is being explored for teaching online. One of the key elements characterising web 2.0 are social networking sites including facebook, you tube, wikis and blogging sites (25). Medical educators and designers of educational software applications can benefit from understanding and applying Web 2.0 concepts to the curriculum and related websites (14). Web 2.0 technologies represent a quite revolutionary way of managing and repurposing/remixing online information and knowledge repositories, including clinical and research information, in comparison with the traditional Web 1.0 model. (10). Twitter is likely to become a useful adjunct for more personalized teaching and learning in medical education (19). If effectively deployed, wikis, blogs and podcasts could offer a way to enhance students’, clinicians’ and patients’ learning experiences and research should be conducted to determine the best ways to integrate these tools into existing e-Learning programmes for students, health professionals and patients (1). Usefulness for integrating web 2.0 into formal education courses has been previously studied (16) where students have positively reported and supported its integration. Still, there is no solid evidence base within the literature that social-networking is equally or more effective than other media available for educational purposes (2). Internet- based learning effects when compared with non-Internet instructional methods are heterogeneous and generally small, suggesting effectiveness similar to traditional methods. (5). One of the potential barriers to usefulness of technology is effective student participation. (20, 24). Moreover effectiveness of teaching module can only be tested on those who participate in the new resource. There are studies which reported the predictors of participation in online course. (21). But these predictors are mostly related to features of technology rather than characteristics of participants themselves. It has been reported that researchers should conduct implementation-profiling studies in advance of any intervention-based research to account for the constructing nature of educational ecologies on their interventions. (7). The preparedness of students to web based teaching is a participant based predictor which is highly underreported in the assessment of effectiveness of new teaching tool. The willingness of students to participate depends on student resource, working knowledge of computer, student inertia, and the quality of web based resource developed. Before the introduction of web 2.0 teaching, it is judicial to know whether the students are willing and adequately prepared for it to take care of student factors becoming hindrance in their involvement. For example, if instructors are planning to use twitter as a medium for teaching and interaction it would be advisable to know that how many students have active twitter accounts. Foley N M et al establish the prevalence of social networking accounts among a group of second-level students (aged 15-18 years). (18). The aim of the present study was to assess the preparedness