Abstract
BACKGROUND: While massive open online course (MOOC)-based blended learning has gained popularity across disciplines, its adoption in medical histology education is underexplored, and its educational benefits for undergraduate medical students have yet to be clearly established. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relative effectiveness of traditional and blended learning methods in terms of academic performance, student perceptions, and learning satisfaction among first-year medical students in China enrolled in a histology course. METHODS: In this study, two groups with similar age, gender, and academic background were analyzed. The control group (n = 44) received traditional lecture-based teaching (LBT group), while the blended learning group (n = 45) received hybrid teaching, which combined traditional lecture-based teaching and MOOC (LBTM group). RESULTS: The final examination score of the blended learning participants was significantly higher than that of the control participants (LBTM 81.00 ± 10.84 vs LBT 75.34 ± 12.50, P < 0.05). The LBTM group demonstrated higher mean scores among the middle 30% (Mann-Whitney U-test, P < 0.001) and the lower 50% (Mann-Whitney U-test, P < 0.01) of students. Additionally, the final examination score was significantly correlated with the in-class quiz score (R = 0.420, P < 0.01). The implementation of blended learning was well-received by students in the LBTM group, who preferred the blended learning model (64.44%). Moreover, higher satisfaction was observed with blended learning (LBTM 21.87 ± 4.36 vs LBT 15.20 ± 4.15, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Blended learning led to significant improvements in students' performance, satisfaction, and perception compared with traditional learning.