Active Learning Centre: potential uses and efficacy of an interactive Internet-based teaching tool

Advancement of personal computers and the Internet has presented exciting o pportunities for development of new educational tools. This paper presents evaluation of an interactive educational website: Active Learning Centre (A LC). To assess efficacy of learning using ALC we compared students using th e website with a control group using a lecture handout in a randomized sing le-blinded (investigators) trial. Improvement in subject performance from p re- to post-study session examination served as the primary endpoint, while students' subjective evaluation of their experience was a secondary endpoi nt. While both groups improved their performance significantly from a basel ine, the control group achieved higher test scores than ALC users. In their subjective evaluation of their learning experience, however, subjects favo red ALC. While it appears that ALC may not be optimal as valuable education al tool, especially when used in conjunction with other teaching techniques . Other potential uses of the website are discussed based on the latest adv ancement in fundamental cognitive research.