Blended teaching versus traditional teaching for undergraduate physiotherapy students at the University of the Witwatersrand

Abstract

Background: Shifting from face-to-face teaching to incorporating technology may prepare students better for future work as health professionals. Evidence of blended teaching’s effect on the academic performance of undergraduate physiotherapy students’ performance is scarce.Objective: The purpose of our study was to determine students’ theoretical and clinical performance in a blended teaching module compared to their own performance in two knowledge areas taught face to face, and student perceptions of blended teaching in the third-year physiotherapy curriculum.Methods: The cross-sectional study design included 47 third-year physiotherapy students. The orthopaedic module was delivered using a blended teaching approach in two consecutive semesters, whilst two other physiotherapy knowledge areas, neuromusculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary, in the same semesters were delivered face to face. Theoretical and clinical performances of students were compared for significance and effect. Students were assessed on their theoretical and clinical knowledge in all areas using the same assessment methods. The students (n = 43) also completed a survey on their blended teaching experience.Results: Significantly higher theoretical marks for orthopaedics were calculated compared to neuromusculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary for both semesters with a large positive effect (average Cohen d = 4.44) for blended teaching on theoretical examination performance; no statistically significant difference for clinical performances. Students felt engaged in the blended teaching process, and 72% preferred blended teaching over face-to-face teaching or online delivery.Conclusion: Blended teaching improved the theoretical marks, demonstrating that knowledge acquisition was improved, but not clinical performance.Clinical implications: The study contributes to the knowledge base of blended learning in Health Science Education in South Africa. The authors identified a gap where future studies should investigate the effect of blended learning on clinical performance outcomes as a continuation from this one.

Entwicklung eines beispielhaften kompetenzorientierten Blended-Learning-Konzeptes für die Physiotherapie-Ausbildung

“…Die Ergebnisse der Literaturrecherche zeigen, dass POL den Lernprozess von Lernenden in der Physiotherapie-Ausbildung bzw. im Studium positiv beeinflusst [18,19,[31][32][33][34][35]46], ebenso wie der Einsatz verschiedener digitaler Tools und Materialien [36][37][38][39][41][42][43][44][45], obwohl die Forschenden die Konzepte sehr unterschiedlich ausgestaltet haben. Wichtig ist daher für erfolgreiches BL bzw.…”

Blended Learning y factores sociodemográficos en el aprendizaje del idioma inglés en educación media superior

“…Además, otra limitación identificada es que solo aborda la parte cuantitativa, representada como un estudio descriptivo de la situación como experiencia educativa, sin ser contundente en sus conclusiones; dada la complejidad del estudio realizado, no fue posible identificar elementos cualitativos, principalmente vinculados con percepciones respecto a la experiencia de aprendizaje, tanto de los estudiantes como de los docentes. Sin embargo, en la parte cualitativa se han desarrollado investigaciones, que según Ravat et al (2021), demuestran resultados favorables en la aceptación del modelo de BL por estudiantes, esto desde tres perspectivas: compromiso de los estudiantes durante el curso, percepciones sobre el conocimiento adquirido y procesos de enseñanza.…”

The Use of Blended Teaching in Higher Medical Education during the Pandemic Era

“…Blended teaching, as a new educational model in recent years, has achieved good results in different fields [ 5 , 6 ]. In order to meet the needs of higher medical education reform during the pandemic era, and taking the teaching of neurology as a pilot scheme, we established a blended teaching mode.…”