ArticleBMC medical education2016
Blended learning: how can we optimise undergraduate student engagement?
Article in BMC medical education, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Flipped Classroom in Medical Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of the factors - enablers and barriers - affecting e-learning in health sciences education.BMC medical education · 2020Pooled it
- Significant differences in written assessments as a result of a blended learning approach used in a clinical examination course in internal medicine: a randomized controlled pilot study.GMS journal for medical education · 2021Trial
- Engagement with a Web-Based Health Promotion Intervention among Vocational School Students: A Secondary User and Usage Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Trial
- Pilot of a blended learning model on medical students' communication skills in the context of digital innovations.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Flipped classroom and technology-enhanced learning in dermatology education: evidence, implementation, and future directions.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Enhancing Neuroanatomy Education for Medical Students Through the Development of Online Modules.Advances in medical education and practice · 2025Article
- Factors affecting Saudi medical students' engagement during synchronous and asynchronous eLearning and their impacts on the students' academic achievement: a national survey.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of blended pedagogy for radiographic interpretation skills in operative dentistry - a comparison of test scores and student experiences at an undergraduate dental school in Pakistan.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Blended learning in nursing pharmacology: elevating cognitive skills, engagement and academic outcomes.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Remote Teaching in a Rwandan Emergency Medicine Residency: A Viable Option with Limited In-person Staff.The East African health research journal · 2024Article
- Evaluation of the star family doctors training program: an observational cohort study of a novel continuing medical education program for general practitioners within a compact medical consortium: a quantitative analysis.BMC medical education · 2023Observational
- Establishing Biobanking in Medical Curricula-The Education Program "Precision Medicine International" (eduBRoTHER).Biopreservation and biobanking · 2023Article
- Health science staff and student experiences of teaching and assessing clinical skills using digital tools: a qualitative study.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
- Training medical students in motivational interviewing using a blended learning approach: a proof-of-concept study.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- [Chances and challenges of increasing digitalization of teaching in the discipline anesthesiology from the perspective of students].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2022Article
- Investigation of the factors affecting the e-learning process in occupational therapy education during the pandemic with principal component analysis.The British journal of occupational therapy · 2022Article
- Article
- Evaluation of a prerequisite course of histology implementation for Chinese students of eight-year medical programme: a mixed quantitative survey.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- 'Learning in and out of lockdown': A comparison of two groups of undergraduate occupational therapy students' engagement in online-only and blended education approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic.Australian occupational therapy journal · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBlended learning is a combination of online and face-to-face learning and is increasingly of interest for use in undergraduate medical education. It has been used to teach clinical post-graduate students pharmacology but needs evaluation for its use in teaching pharmacology to undergraduate medical students, which represent a different group of students with different learning needs.
methodsAn existing BSc-level module on neuropharmacology was redesigned using the Blended Learning Design Tool (BLEnDT), a tool which uses learning domains (psychomotor, cognitive and affective) to classify learning outcomes into those taught best by self-directed learning (online) or by collaborative learning (face-to-face). Two online courses were developed, one on Neurotransmitters and the other on Neurodegenerative Conditions. These were supported with face-to-face tutorials. Undergraduate students' engagement with blended learning was explored by the means of three focus groups, the data from which were analysed thematically.
resultsFive major themes emerged from the data 1) Purpose and Acceptability 2) Structure, Focus and Consolidation 3) Preparation and workload 4) Engagement with e-learning component 5) Future Medical Education.
conclusionBlended learning was acceptable and of interest to undergraduate students learning this subject. They expressed a desire for more blended learning in their courses, but only if it was highly structured, of high quality and supported by tutorials. Students identified that the 'blend' was beneficial rather than purely online learning.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.