study of student's perceptions of blended learning in certificate courses of gulf medical university

ABSTRACT

Estimate students' perception of blended learning and ease of use of online content in blended learning courses and to correlate the perceptions with socio demographic variables. This cross sectional study was conducted at the Center for Continuing Education and Community Outreach [CCE and CO] Gulf Medical University during the period Jan 2013-Dec 2013.Student perceptions of blended learning process, content and ease of use were recorded from a total of 75 students enrolled in the certificate courses offered by CCE and CO using a questionnaire. Mann-Whitney-U-test was performed to see whether the gender affected the students' perceptions of blended learning. Kruskal- Wallis test was used to assess if perceptions differ significantly across different age categories and course of study. The median scores of all the questions in all three domains of perception were above 3 indicating positive perceptions of students regarding the process of blended learning, the blended learning content and the ease of use of online content. The distribution of perceptions regarding all 3 domains was the same across categories of gender and age. There was a significant difference in the distribution of perceptions across the different course of study the student was enrolled in. Students hold a positive perception of the blended learning courses being offered in GMU. The difference in perceptions among students of different courses indicates that the blended learning format offered needs modification according to course content to improve its perception