COMPUTER-ASSISTED-INSTRUCTION IN AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL-SCHOOLS

Objective: To survey the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in undergraduate medical student education in Australia. Setting and des ign: A postal questionnaire survey of medical school deans, and depart ment heads, in all Australian medical schools. Results: 90% of deans, and 88% of department heads responded to the questionnaires. There wer e considerable variations between departments and faculties in the use of CAI. Overall, 36% of departments were using CAI and 65% of those n ot currently using it were either developing CAI or would like to intr oduce it into their teaching programs. Some medical faculties had well -developed policies for CAI, and provided considerable resources, whil e others did not. Some departments had large numbers of student work s tations (up to 64), and multiple teaching packages (up to 200). CAI pa ckages were generally thought to be popular with students, and to have improved the standard of learning. Conclusion: This form of teaching is currently undergoing rapid expansion, but in an uncoordinated manne r that is likely to lead to greatly increased overall development cost s.