Abstract:

The problem of desertion and failure in the bachelor of medicine in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, occurs most frequently in the first year of study. There are multiple causes, one of them refers to the close relationship between motivation and learning, and is the teacher who can make learning more meaningful.

Young people are frequent users of new technologies of communication through Internet, and that’s why the educational institutions are incorporating them as they offer the possibility to create interaction environments between teachers and students. The blog is a user-friendly website through which you can built a teaching resource helped by text, images, audio and video. The use of blogs put students, teachers and school in the same place, it make them join the same world shearing the same tools and media, with the advantage that you can use student-centered paradigm, promote the intrinsic motivation of student, and encourage collaborative and cooperative learning.

The purpose of this project was building a blog, and use it as a tool to promote the motivation and learning of the, Cell Biology and Medical Histology subject, a core subject in the first year of medical school.

This blog is an educational research Project funded by the Project for Innovation and Improvement of Education Support Program, of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

The teaching materials are questions based on images or diagrams that allows the student a self-evaluation and self-regulation. The blog has links with other blogs and sites of interest, as well as a facebook page for it’s dissemination and better interaction with students. The students can freely enter the blog comments and answer the questions or seek advice. The comments are fed back by them peers and an expert who guides the students.

The blog was created a year ago, and until today it has more than 97000 visits. Also we´ve created 319 entries, as well as 6 question pages to prepare for exams. It has more than 1041 feedback comments and the countries that have visited it the most in the last month are in order of visits: México, Venezuela, Bolivia and the United States.

Right now we’re finishing the evaluation of the blog through focal groups made up of students of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Medicine School, and surveys on the same blog that can be answered by any visitor.

This study was supported by Grant PE204410 of the Project for Innovation and Improvement of Education Support Program (PAPIME) of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Keywords:

Blog, Cell Biology, Histology, Medicine School.