Do active learning techniques promote higher academic performance in an online graduate anatomy course?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Anatomy Education
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• Online learning and active learning are increasingly adopted in graduate health professional programs.
• Active learning strategies aim to enhance student engagement and academic performance.
• Limited research exists on active learning's impact in online graduate anatomy courses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of four active learning techniques on student examination performance in an online graduate anatomy course.
• To compare academic performance between learning objectives students taught and those they learned from peers.

Main Methods:

• 170 graduate students participated in an online anatomy course incorporating jigsaw, team-learning module, concept mapping, or question constructing activities.
• Examination performance was analyzed for learning objectives assigned for active learning versus non-assigned objectives.

Main Results:

• Overall academic performance did not significantly differ between students using active learning and a control group.
• Students demonstrated significantly higher performance on examination questions related to objectives they taught compared to those learned from peers.

Conclusions:

• The academic benefits of active learning in this online anatomy course are primarily linked to the preparation required for peer teaching.
• Recipient peer-learners gained minimal academic benefit from the active learning strategies employed.