Project-Based Learning in Online Medical Classes: The Walkway to Learn the Medical English Language Efficiently

Abstract

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, online education has gained more momentum. Despite its advantages, virtual learning has some drawbacks. To compensate for these shortcomings, the application of some innovative approaches has obtained more importance; one of them is Project-Based Learning (PBL).  The present study aimed at investigating the effect of PBL on students’ performance in a general English course. The participants were 55 Iranian freshmen medical students who registered in the General English Course at the Birjand University of Medical Sciences. They were selected based on convenience sampling. The classes were held virtually, twice a week for 24 sessions during the spring semester of 2020. All the students in the class were asked to do a term project in the form of making English language videos about a medical topic. The recorded classes, observations, and semi-structured interviews with the students about the advantages of doing projects were the sources of data. The collected data were analyzed through thematic analysis and validated through member checking. The data analyses resulted in five main themes about the advantages of PBL in the areas of students' "autonomy", "engagement", "learning", "motivation", and "evaluation". PBL helped the students to be more autonomous and improved their engagement. Furthermore, it helped them learn new words about the diseases and improve their knowledge of their major.  It also made the students more motivated and helped the teacher figure out how well they did during the term instead of just relying on the final exam.