For medical students, motivation orientation plays an important role in self-directed learning which is crucial for the success of clinical learning. Therefore, we want to know the difference of motivation orientation between blended learning and traditional learning. This study compared students’ perceived motivation orientation between traditional and blended learning contexts in clinical education. 

Traditional medical clerkship education tends to place an emphasis on delivering material by way of a lecture, and core clinical training has occurred primarily on inpatient teams in block rotations. While in a blended learning model lectures can be online-learning ahead of time so the student can watch on their own time. The classroom time is more likely to be for structured exercises that emphasize the application of the curriculum to solve problems or work through tasks. A course created in a blended learning model uses the classroom time for activities that benefit the most from direct interaction. 258 junior clerkship students experienced both kind of learning in the clinical rotations. After that, every student answered the “Motivation orientation questionnaire” toward both learning contexts.

EFA revealed consistent results within the two learning contexts with identical three pre-proposed factors. The overall alphas in both learning contexts were both 0.9. Tests of SE, IM, and EM between two learning contexts revealed that students perceived significantly higher SE (p<.001) and IM (p<.001) in the blended learning context (SE: 4.92, IM: 5.35) than traditional learning context (SE: 4.61, IM 4.93). The effect sizes for the SE (d=0.35) and IM (d=0,45) were small to medium.

Clinical education may benefit from blended learning with more intrinsic motivated orientation. This study found that a significant and positive correlation between self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. It can, however, extrinsic motion did not reach statistical significance. Further research is required to test this relationship.

Investment on building up blended learning environment for clinical education is worthwhile not only by its well-known learner-paced and flexible characteristics but also by motivating students more intrinsic oriented.

•Greveson, G. C., & Spencer, J. A. (2005). Self-directed learning - the importance of concepts and contexts. Medical Education, 39(4), 348-349.

•Stegers-Jager, K. M., Cohen-Schotanus, J., & Themmen, A. P. N. (2012). Motivation, learning strategies, participation and medical school performance. Medical Education, 46(7), 678-688.