| Using electronic flashcards to promote learning in medical students: retesting versus restudying. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 21988625 Owner: NLM Status: In-Data-Review |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Medical Education 2011: 45: 1101-1110 Context The superiority of retesting over restudying in terms of knowledge retention and skills acquisition has been proven in both laboratory and classroom settings, as well as in doctors' practice. However, it is still unclear how important retesting strategies are to the learning of relevant factual knowledge in undergraduate medical education. Methods Eighty students in Years 3-5 of medical school in Munich participated in a prospective, randomised, double-blinded, controlled study in which they were exposed to 30 electronic flashcards designed to help them memorise key factual knowledge in the domain of clinical nephrology. The flashcards were presented in four successive learning cycles, each consisting of a study period and a subsequent test period. Half of all participants were randomised to repetitive studying (restudy group) and half were randomised to repetitive testing (retest group) of successfully memorised flashcards. Knowledge retention was assessed after 1 week and 6 months. Additionally, personal data, self-reflection on the efficacy of the learning strategies and judgements of learning were obtained by questionnaires. Results Repetitive testing promoted better recall than repetitive studying after 1 week (p < 0.001). However, after 6 months general recall was poor and no difference between the restudy and retest groups was observed. Time on task and number of trials, in addition to sex, age, performance and psycho-social background, did not vary between the groups. Self-predictions of student performance did not correlate with actual performance. Conclusions In the context of using electronic flashcards, repetitive testing is a more potent learning strategy than repetitive studying for short-term but not long-term knowledge retention in clinical medical students. Although students use testing as a learning strategy, they seem to be unaware of its superiority in supporting short-term knowledge retention. |
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Authors:
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Ralf Schmidmaier; Rene Ebersbach; Miriam Schiller; Inga Hege; Matthias Holzer; Martin R Fischer |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Medical education Volume: 45 ISSN: 1365-2923 ISO Abbreviation: Med Educ Publication Date: 2011 Nov |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2011-10-12 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7605655 Medline TA: Med Educ Country: England |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 1101-10 Citation Subset: IM |
Copyright Information:
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© Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011. |
Affiliation:
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Medical Education Unit, Medizinische Klinik Innenstadt, University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilian University (LMU), Munich, Germany School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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