A meme-based approach for enhancing student engagement and learning in renal physiology

Abstract

As educators around the world are exploring new approaches to keep students involved in remote learning during the pandemic, we investigated the utility of memes in promoting engagement in the online environment. Medical students enrolled in a human physiology course at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sohar, Oman were provided with an option to create memes related to the learning outcomes in renal physiology. One hundred forty-six of 280 students chose to create memes (52%), and the remaining students chose to submit either a labeled diagram or a concept map. Students uploaded their work in the discussion forum of the learning management system. All students enrolled in the course were given an opportunity for interaction with the uploaded content by commenting and upvoting thereafter. Students were requested to give anonymous feedback on their experience specifically on the activity related to memes. Feedback received from 142 of 280 students through anonymous comments was subjected to thematic analysis. Based on the analysis of the data, we found that memes elicited interest in the topic, facilitated peer interaction, simplified complex ideas, enhanced retention of associated concepts, and fostered a positive learning environment.