The Positive Impact of Installing Life-Sized Photo Panels of Instructors on Students' Attitudes Toward a Course

Background The practical physiology course at medical universities in Japan provides students with the opportunity to learn physiological principles through wet labs and discussions. To develop a more effective method/tool to improve students’ attitudes toward the course, we utilized life-sized photo panels of instructors at the entrance of the laboratory rooms, evaluated self-administered questionnaires following the course, and examined whether installing photo panels affected students’ attitudes toward the course. Methods Second-year undergraduate medical students anonymously submitted the self-assessment questionnaire addressing several aspects, such as understanding of the theme (“understanding”) and transition to experiments efficiently from brief introduction by instructors (“transition“), rated on a five-point Likert scale. Results The average Likert scores ranged from 4 to 5 points for all questions. Installation of life-sized photo panels of instructors with infection-protective equipment increased the scores for transition, enjoyment, and communication by 19%, 10%, and 7%, respectively, compared with the condition without such panels. Meanwhile, no significant differences were found regarding infection prevention, understanding, or interest. Furthermore, our correlation analyses revealed significant changes in the correlations between the scores for enjoyment and interest, enjoyment and transition, and communication and transition upon installation, indicating that the presence of the panels changed the combination of correlations between the questions. Discussion/Conclusion Installing the photo panels changed students’ attitudes toward the course, which may serve to maximize learning outcomes.