Assessing the Efficacy of Active Learning to Support Student Performance Across Undergraduate Programmes in...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Biomedical Sciences
• Healthcare Professions Education

Background:

• Active learning enhances student engagement and learning across diverse educational settings.
• Interprofessional education in Medical Cell Biology serves multiple healthcare programs.
• Supporting students from various academic backgrounds is crucial in higher education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the efficacy of an active learning approach in a first-year Medical Cell Biology module.
• To evaluate the impact of active learning on student performance across different assessment types.
• To determine if active learning supports students from diverse academic backgrounds and abilities.

Main Methods:

• Implemented weekly interactive multiple-choice quizzes using Smartwork for formative assessment.
• Tracked and analyzed student performance in module coursework and exams over two years.
• Compared performance data from before and after the introduction of the active learning strategy.

Main Results:

• Full engagement with active learning significantly correlated with higher overall module performance (p < 0.01).
• Significant improvements were observed in class test (p < 0.001), exam (p < 0.05), and coursework (p < 0.001) for fully engaged students.
• Partial engagement also led to significant improvements in class test (p < 0.001) and coursework (p < 0.05) performance.

Conclusions:

• Active learning is an effective tool for supporting student learning in interprofessional healthcare programs.
• Student engagement with active learning strategies is a key factor in enhancing academic performance.
• The approach is beneficial for students with diverse backgrounds and abilities in a widening participation setting.