Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
FEBS Open Bio. 2022 Jul;12(7):1286-1305. doi: 10.1002/2211-5463.13421. Epub 2022 May 23.
It is increasingly important to utilize novel approaches to improve student learning. This has become especially relevant throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies have shown positive outcomes of blended learning on student satisfaction. Yet, there are limited data in the field of biology on how blended learning practices correlate with overall student performance. Moreover, there is a dearth of information on student perceptions about how blended learning has impacted their education. Through this study, we present insights on the impact of blended learning in a first-year cell and molecular biology course. Using mixed-methods research, we evaluated the impact of a blended learning course format on student performance in the learning categories of knowledge and understanding, communication and application, and critical thinking and inquiry. Using a pre- vs. postintervention analysis, we show that a blended learning course model does not change students' performance on multiple-choice and short answer assessments when compared to a nonblended learning course model. Through a qualitative assessment of student perceptions and sentiments, however, the implemented blended learning approach does appear to provide significant perceived benefits, including learner flexibility, consolidation of content, and the opportunity to apply course content to the 'real world'. While we recognize that our report describes a very specific blended learning model, we believe that our findings are generalizable to similar introductory courses. As such, we are confident that our case study will provide course designers with a useful foundation to build future blended learning courses.
利用新方法来提高学生的学习效果变得越来越重要。在整个 COVID-19 大流行期间，这一点变得尤为重要。先前的研究表明，混合式学习对学生满意度有积极影响。然而，在生物学领域，关于混合式学习实践与学生整体表现如何相关的数据有限。此外，关于学生对混合式学习如何影响其教育的看法的信息也很少。通过这项研究，我们展示了混合式学习在一年级细胞和分子生物学课程中的影响。我们采用混合方法研究，评估了混合式学习课程模式对学生在知识和理解、沟通和应用以及批判性思维和探究等学习类别的表现的影响。通过前后干预分析，我们发现与非混合式学习课程模式相比，混合式学习课程模式不会改变学生在多项选择和简答题评估中的表现。然而，通过对学生感知和情绪的定性评估，实施的混合式学习方法似乎确实提供了显著的感知益处，包括学习者的灵活性、内容的巩固以及将课程内容应用于“现实世界”的机会。虽然我们认识到我们的报告描述了一个非常特定的混合式学习模式，但我们相信我们的发现可以推广到类似的入门课程。因此，我们有信心我们的案例研究将为课程设计者提供一个有用的基础，以构建未来的混合式学习课程。
