(Original Article) Evaluating Classroom Engagement and Learning Outcomes from Student Co-Designed and Co-Taught Learning Activities in a Health Informatics Course

Abstract

This study explored a learner co-design and co-taught model for the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) era. The spectrum of learning has been increasingly shaped by advances in artificial intelligence (AI). Its rapid progress underscores the need to move beyond lecture-centric, teacher-designed instruction toward approaches that strengthen students’ self-directed learning, analytical thinking, and application of knowledge in real-world contexts. A total 96 participants, the fourth-year medical technology students of Mahidol University, was divided into three groups to engage the designed theme of study; “Health Data Management Using Database Systems”. The three consecutive groups collaboratively identified essential content and required knowledge, designed teaching methods and learning media, implemented the activities in line with defined learning outcomes, and evaluated results using questionnaires and focus-group discussion. These findings demonstrated that students engaged actively in the learning process and prioritized attaining deep conceptual understanding before communicating content to others. The designed approach fostered analytical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and responsibility for one’s own learning, while cultivating a classroom climate conducive to inquiry, idea sharing, and collegial peer-to-peer learning. Despite limitations related to the scope of content and teaching skills, the overall evidence indicated that learner co-designed and co-taught approaches effectively cultivate essential 21^st-century skills and align well with learner-centered pedagogy in contemporary higher education.