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Lookup NU author(s): Jun Lim, Dr Emma Haagensen, Dr Edmund OngORCiD, Dr Paul HubbardORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2025 The Author(s). Medical Education published by Association for the Study of Medical Education and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Background: Active learning is a learning process that promotes student engagement in constructing knowledge and conceptual understanding, improves critical thinking skills and develops professional competency. In recent years there has been a significant shift of emphasis in higher education from passive teacher-centred didactic teaching to active student-led learning. Although there is abundant literature about active learning, there is a gap in the knowledge of students' perception regarding factors that affect engagement in active learning activities. This project aimed to explore pre-clinical year medical students' perception of active learning and examine the factors that affect their participation in active learning activities. Methods: A mixed-method study was conducted with pre-clinical medical students at Newcastle University Medical School, UK, and Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia. A total of 266 students participated in an online survey questionnaire, with 25 students participating in focus group discussions (FGD). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive analysis and qualitative data was analysed with thematic analysis. Results: The majority of students (94.7%) recognised that active learning is important for their learning, but had a narrow definition of what active learning constituted, and familiarity with active learning techniques was lacking. Many students' independent learning techniques were centred around methods of ‘active recall’, with factors affecting the utilisation of active learning techniques mainly focused on time availability, group dynamics in active teaching sessions and teaching styles of educators. Conclusion: Students acknowledged the importance of active learning but are generally unfamiliar with ways to effectively utilise a broad range of active learning strategies. This study demonstrated that it is important for educators to understand firstly how students define active learning as well as how students interact with active learning taught sessions, to ensure that they create an environment where students feel confident to engage in active learning techniques.
Author(s): Heng W, Ho MH, Mah XH, Lim JJ, Syamsury NHBA, Haagensen E, Ong ELC, Hubbard P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Medical Education
Year: 2025
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 06/02/2025
Acceptance date: 08/01/2025
Date deposited: 18/02/2025
ISSN (print): 0308-0110
ISSN (electronic): 1365-2923
Publisher: Wiley
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.15611
DOI: 10.1111/medu.15611
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, PH, upon reasonable request
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