The learning experience on an undergraduate blended learning healthcare management programme: an examination of knowledge and skills transfer to practice

Background: Knowledge and skill transfer from higher education settings to the workplace is essential in supporting employment-ready graduates and the knowledge economy. The yearning for employability has significantly intensified post-COVID-19 as the UK government and universities examine further partnerships with employers to plug the skills gaps in the healthcare sector.

Aim: This study evaluated the knowledge and skills 'transfer direction' of a non-practicum-linked undergraduate blended learning programme to the healthcare management workplace.

Methodology/Methods: The qualitative study used a UK higher education institution (HEI) as a case study. Between December 2021 and June 2022, 28 purposively selected participants were recruited in the study. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the programme's students and graduates, employers, and academics.

Findings: Results revealed that the programme takes advantage of strengths such as curriculum design, communities of practice, and integrated and scaffolded content and resources in modules to emphasise and promote knowledge contextualisation and skill development for application to practice. The transfer outcome of knowledge and skills from the blended learning classroom suggested either a "positive transfer" or "neutral and transfer difficult to determine". Five of the 28 participants identified the need for practicums and a mechanism to follow-up and monitor graduate and student practice as a significant impediment to comprehensively determining whether knowledge and skills transfer from the programme is explicit, transparent, or even observable.

Conclusion: The paucity of studies on knowledge and skills transfer from blended learning healthcare management programmes to practice uniquely positioned this study to advance our understanding of knowledge and skill transfer from the classroom to the healthcare industry. Similar undergraduate curricula would benefit from formally incorporating practicums to enhance theory-to-practice application, student achievement and employability.