Blended learning supported by digital technology and competency-based medical education: a case study of the social medicine course at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

Abstract

Blended courses supported by digital technology (bLearning) and competency-based medical education can be found in different university curricular reform initiatives around the world. Today, it is essential to implement new technologies and teaching methods that are flexible and encourage students to acquire the necessary professional skills. This article describes how using the bLearning format transformed the Social Medicine course for second-year medical students at Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), particularly their ability to achieve target competencies. A qualitative case study was carried out to explore the curriculum structure, training and skills, educational model and learning environments used during the course. We discuss the methods used, the results achieved, and the challenges encountered during the implementation process. Findings show that bLearning both facilitated the transformation of the course design and promoted flexibility and autonomy in students' learning process. Additionally, the new format facilitated the development of various competencies including: cognitive, technical and procedural, integrative and communicative, reflection, and professional ones.

An Innovative Way of Designing Blended Learning Through Design-Based Research in Higher Education

“…BL has commonly seen as an effective learning approach (Chou & Chou, 2011;Graham, 2006;Wu, Tennyson, & Hsia, 2010) because many studies have shown that BL promotes the acquisition of knowledge and skills in a variety of disciplines (Maza, Lozano, Alarcón, Zuluaga, & Fadul, 2016). One of the key benefits of BL is to manage, create, and promote collaborative and interactive learning environments (Graham 2006).…”

Blended Learning Station-Rotation Model: Does it Impact on Preservice Teachers' Scientific Literacy?

“…Blended learning is a balance between face-to-face and online learning (Morton et al, 2016). With blended learning, students can construct their own knowledge and change their passive behavior that only receives knowledge from their teacher into an active behavior (Maza et al, 2016;Wichadee, 2017). Blended learning has been shown to improve student learning's outcomes (Saritepeci & Cakir, 2015;Rafiola et al, 2020;Ridwan et al, 2020), can improve critical and creative thinking (Nurkhin et al, 2020), can increase student's motivation in learning (Schober & Keller, 2012;Islam et al, 2018), are used as important guidelines in learning (Cao & Liu, 2019), and as an alternative learning method in higher education (Ibrahim & Nat, 2019).…”

Needs Analysis of Blended Learning Development on Instructor Training at Basarnas

“…With the internet network, a person can access and utilize information from a variety of various sources. The development of information and communication technology has given rise to a learning concept known as blended learning (Berga et al, 2021;Indrawan et al, 2019;María et al, 2016).…”

“…The combination of face-to-face online learning has been promoted and encouraged to increase the number of students to meet the demands of modern times and to achieve effective learning outcomes (Baragash & Al-Samarraie, 2018;Lim et al, 2016). Today it is important to apply new technologies and learning methods that are flexible and encourage students to acquire the necessary professional skills (Asarta & Schmidt, 2020;María et al, 2016). Previous research explained that to support meaningful learning and interaction, there are three key components.…”