Riding The Wave of Technology Integration by Applying Student-Centered, Blended Learning Course Design Principles in a Human Anatomy Course

Abstract

This case-study focuses on improving the teaching and learning experience of second year students in a Human Anatomy course at a Health Sciences University in South Africa. The students were underperforming, and the repeaters caused classes to become overcrowded. In search of a solution an instructor of the course and an instructional designer at the University worked on a re-design of the course by including technology and increasing interaction with the course content and peer collaboration as supported by research and best practices. A mixed-methods research methodology was utilized by collecting qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was collected from an interview with the lecturer and a feedback survey from the students. For the analysis of the qualitative data a thematic analysis was applied to identify themes and subthemes which were sorted under the following sub-questions: what were the challenges, successes and suggestions of the newly designed course? Additionally, quantitative data was collected from the students’ grades. The application of technology and increased student engagement proved to be successful, and the study proposes a framework based on best practices and feedback from the lecturer and students for an improved course design for the future.