Table 7 Students’ descriptive responses regarding the MBC
From: The use of microblog-based case studies in a pharmacotherapy introduction class in China
Open-ended questions | No of responses |
|---|---|
What did you like BEST about the MBC? | |
Facilitates interaction: “I can learn from other students’ comments…It’s easy to communicate and discuss with other students.” | 71 |
Allows students to communicate in an easy way: “Team members don’t have to get together to discuss, it’s efficient and convenient…It’s easy to check online information with a simple click.” | 57 |
Facilitates study: “Using the microblog made me more interested in the cases…It’s a fun assignment with clear expectations.” | 45 |
Allows students to express their opinions in an easy way: “I feel more comfortable in expressing my ideas…” | 42 |
Facilitates team work: “It made us work more efficiently as a team.” | 20 |
The activity was convenient: “I can work on the case anywhere, anytime with my mobile devices…” | 6 |
What did you like LEAST about the MBC? | |
The quality of interaction was low: “I prefer face-to-face communication, which is passionate… The interaction is not in real-time, responses are often delayed.” | 41 |
The activity was inconvenient / overwhelming: “Using the microblog was difficult and time consuming…I have to sign in to an account for the assignment.” | 33 |
The quality of messages was low: “Some comments were repetitions of other students…”, “Some opinions were wrong and misleading…” | 18 |
The activity was distracting: “I tended to check other messages I followed rather than the case assignment.” | 15 |
It was difficult to follow the stream of comments: “There were over 50 reply comments on some cases; it was hard to check every comment on each page…” | 13 |