Active Blended learning in Medical Education – Combination of WEB 2.0 Problem Based Learning and Computer Based Audience Response Systems Stathis Th. Konstantinidis 1 , Panagiotis D. Bamidis 1 , Eleni Kaldoudi 2 1 Medical Informatics Laboratory, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 2 Medical Physics Laboratory, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece {cs, bamidis}@med.auth.gr, kaldoudi@med.duth.gr Abstract During the last two decades, the scene in education is rapidly changing by the deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Smart classes, virtual classrooms, online collaborative educational experiences and emerging WEB 2.0 applications are increasingly used, either as stand alone or blended with conventional education. Additionally, as emphasis is shifting from ‘teaching’ to ‘learning’, technologies that promote active, participative learning, such as computer based audience response systems, are employed in order to enhance students’ participation and explore their degree of understanding. This paper presents our approach in combining online active learning and active learning in class in the case of medical education. 1. Introduction During the last two decades, the scene in education is rapidly changing by the deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Smart classes, virtual classrooms, online collaborative educational experiences and emerging WEB 2.0 applications are increasingly used, either as stand alone or blended with conventional education. It is possible to identify three generations of information technology supported learning. The first generation is based on multimedia technology support, such as videos, CD-ROMs or other stand-alone educational software. The second generation employs telematic technologies and it is basically set up as teaching via the web, where conventional educational material, as well as entire educational courses, is delivered via the network to remote students. The last, emerging generation, is about web based learning, where the network is used as a means to create active, context based, personalized learning experiences. This latest evolution of e-learning shifts the emphasis from ‘teaching’ to ‘learning’ and from the notion of technology as a didactic mediator to the notion of sociable, peer-supported, involved learner [1]. Another technological novelty often employed to support active learning in the classroom involves computer based audience response systems, in order to enhance students’ attention and enthusiasm, to promote involvement and understanding, and to help in overall audience management. But there is a little research on combining both learning techniques/technologies that represent the same idea, online active learning and active learning in the classroom. So, the purpose of this paper is to describe the framework that these techniques/technologies can be used as complementary to each other by defining the steps that should be followed for the provision of such active blended learning. The reminder of the paper is structured as follows. In section 2 we provide a brief account on current trends and approaches in online Medical Education and WEB 2.0, as well as, collaboration approaches by means of computer based audience response systems in class; in section 3 the theoretical framework of achieving an active blended learning approach is described, while the following section focuses on a real scenario of implementation of this approach. Section 5 presents some of the evaluation results, followed by a discussion in the last section on key issues of concern and future work. 2. Background In the last few decades we have experienced an explosive growth of information and knowledge in the area of health sciences [2] and in general. To confront this challenge, medical education is increasingly embracing tools and approaches from two different fields. On one hand, alternative educational approaches