Education program in university was interrupted and largely moved online due to Covid-19 pandemic. However, the learning effects among medical and pharmaceutical students were hardly assessed. We aimed to explore the self-evaluation on academic performance and eye strain between paper- and digital-based learning among medical and pharmaceutical students in Japan. An online questionnaire was conducted at University of Toyama, Japan in April 2022. A total of 344 (191 medical, 73 nursing, and 80 pharmaceutical) university students responded. We asked the comparison of academic performance and eye strain between paper- and digital-based learning, and on the answers were into three: paper preference, equivalent, and digital preference. The questionnaire regarding academic performance included reading comprehension, memory retention, and absorption (concentration) in learning. In total, the percentage of paper preference, equivalent, and digital preference on comprehension was 32.0%, 32.8%, and 35.2%, respectively. Those on memory retention were 71.2%, 22.7%, and 6.1%, and those on absorption in learning were 74.7% 18.6%, and 6.7%. As for eye strain, the percentages of students feeling more strain on paper, equivalent, and more strain on digital were 1.2%, 14.2%, and 84.6%, respectively. Although students’ preference on reading comprehension was evenly divided, the majority of medical and pharmaceutical students reported better memory retention and absorption in print learning and felt more eye strain on digital learning. A phenomenon, “screen inferiority”, seemed applicable for medical and pharmaceutical university students and it is unlikely that digital device can fully replace paper learning.

Authors: Masaaki Yamada, Michikazu Sekine, Takashi Tatsuse

Published in: World Congress on Education (WCE-2023)

• Date of Conference: 26-28 June, 2023
• DOI: 10.20533/WCE.2023.0006
• ISBN: 978-1-913572-59-4
• Conference Location: Residence and Conference Centre, Toronto, Canada