AUTHOR=Lees-Murdock D. J. , Khan D. , Irwin R. , Graham J. , Hinch V. , O’Hagan B. , McClean S.
TITLE=Assessing the Efficacy of Active Learning to Support Student Performance Across Undergraduate Programmes in Biomedical Science
JOURNAL=British Journal of Biomedical Science
VOLUME=81
YEAR=2024
URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/british-journal-of-biomedical-science/articles/10.3389/bjbs.2024.12148
DOI=10.3389/bjbs.2024.12148
ISSN=2474-0896
ABSTRACT=Introduction: Active learning is a useful tool to enhance student engagement and support learning in diverse educational situations. We aimed to assess the efficacy of an active learning approach within a large interprofessional first year Medical Cell Biology module taken by six healthcare programmes across the School of Biomedical Sciences at Ulster University, United Kingdom.
Materials and methods: An active learning approach was developed for weekly formative assessment using Smartwork to design a weekly interactive multiple-choice quiz to reinforce key concepts specifically for each lecture. We tracked and assessed student performance in the module overall and in each element of course work and exam for 2 years prior to and following the introduction of an active learning strategy to engage and support learning for students from all academic backgrounds and abilities.
Results: Full engagement with active learning was significantly associated with an increased overall module performance as well as a significantly increased performance in each element of class test (No engagement vs. Full engagement, p < 0.001), exam (No Engagement vs. Full engagement, p < 0.05) and coursework (No engagement vs. Full engagement, p < 0.001) within this overall total (No Engagement vs. Full engagement, p < 0.01). Partial engagement with active learning was associated significantly improved class test (No engagement vs. partially engaged, p < 0.001) and coursework (No engagement vs. partially engaged, p < 0.05) performance. While a trend toward increased performance in exam and overall module mark was observed, these were not significant.
Discussion: Active learning is a useful tool to support student learning across a range of healthcare programmes taken by students with differing backgrounds and academic abilities in an interprofessional and widening participation setting. Student engagement in active learning was highlighted as a key contributory factor to enhanced student performance in all aspects of assessment.