Browsing by Author "Brits, Elizabeth"

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    Factors that influence a group of MBChB lecturers to use blended learning in their teaching
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Brits, Elizabeth; Archer, Elize; Strydom, Sonja; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Centre for Health Professions Education.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are globally an emerging development in education. The trend is increasingly to integrate blended learning approaches in higher education institutions to create alternative learning opportunities. Blended learning has the possibility of accommodating students in making learning more accessible and creating a more satisfying learning experience. However, lecturers do not appear to be convinced of the benefits of using digital technologies in their teaching. Digital technologies are often only used for tasks such as word processing and internet searches instead of for the full benefits they can offer in teaching and learning. This raised the question of what the different factors are that influence MBChB lecturers’ integration of blended learning in their teaching. The study took on a qualitative exploratory research design in an attempt to better understand how teachers view blended learning and to possibly identify factors that enhance or inhibit their use of digital technologies in their teaching. The population for this study consisted of the ten module co-ordinators in the third year of the MBChB programme. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with a total of eight participants. All the participants were experts in their respective medical fields, with several years of teaching experience both in the clinical and classroom settings. The participants were from a variety of specialities within medicine, which aided in rich data collection. The transcribed interviews were coded and then themes were grouped by means of a thematic analysis process. This study identified five main themes with various subthemes. These were meaning-making of blended learning, the medical curriculum, teachers’ individual differences, the medical student and institutional factors. It was evident that teachers’ dual role as clinicians and teachers as well as their multiple responsibilities influence their behaviour in the implementation of a blended learning approach. It was also found that the learning environment plays a key role in a clinician teacher’s implementation of a blended learning approach. Lastly, the importance of faculty development was highlighted and it is clear that teachers need continuous support and development in the implementation process, which implies longitudinal faculty development opportunities. These findings indicate that blended learning is not necessarily as useful in all learning environments, and that some teachers actually fail to see the usefulness of blended learning in the clinical learning environment. However, contextualised faculty development opportunities could inform the affordances of blended learning in the different learning environments.