Dr. Mohammad Qneibi

College of Medicine and Health Sciences

Department  of Anatomy, Biochemistry & Genetics

There was always a strong connection between active learning and my methodology in teaching. I always believed that students should not just depend on their books or instructors. I believed that the students need to learn how to search for information and know how to share it properly. I perpetually desired to minimize the gap between schools and universities in terms of independent studying

I was lucky enough to find an opportunity to improve my methodology in teaching by using technology and smart classes. The Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT) won Erasmus+ programme to train instructors in Netherland to utilize technology, Moodle, and online programs (Socartive) as part of the course. I went there for ten days at Cork University to learn how they can manage to cover all the content of the course and involve the students in every concept of the chapter by using their technology such as their cellphones. I was indeed fortunate to learn from the best in the field.

CELT and I decided to do it with the highest student enrollment course in the health sciences. Therefore, we chose the general biology course where all students must take in their first semester. In the beginning, students resisted the change because they were afraid to depend on themselves to get information. They did not trust themselves to extract knowledge. They lacked the tools to do research. Besides, the English language was a barrier as well. The active learning helped the students in many things such as;

1) Every student felt that he/she has a vital role in the class since they will be sharing what they have researched

2) It gave them the opportunity to work on their English (i.e., listening and speaking)

3)It increased their self-confidence through a class presentation where they developed their presentation skills

4) Students were eager to come to class to share their thoughts and get feedback from their classmates and doctor.

5) Students used technology (i.e., Moodle and cellphone) to help them in their studies instead of being the distractors.

6) Students became independent in their studies instead of on relying only one textbook or the instructor.

7) Students learned how to work in teams on cases in adequate ways

8) student learned how to take notes from the videos on Moodle

As a result, I believe using electronic learning through Moodle and cellphone encouraged the students to become more involved and active. My goal is to make all the classes in the health sciences to become active learning. This way, students will not face any problem in understanding any subject they learn, even if they did not understand the material in the class.

They will become precise and accurate in searching for new information. I was delighted to be one of the doctors to promote active learning. Most of the students applied the same methods for other courses and found themselves that they are performing better and less stress since they do not accept anything to memorized. On the contrary, they searched for the subject to fully understand it