Use of digital teaching resources and predictors of medical student performance during the pandemic: A prospective study
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Use of digital teaching resources and predictors of medical student performance during the pandemic: A prospective study. / Seer, Michelle; Kampsen, Charlotte; Becker, Tim; Hobert, Sebastian; Anders, Sven; Raupach, Tobias.
In: PLOS ONE, Vol. 17, No. 5, e0268331, 2022.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Use of digital teaching resources and predictors of medical student performance during the pandemic: A prospective study
AU - Seer, Michelle
AU - Kampsen, Charlotte
AU - Becker, Tim
AU - Hobert, Sebastian
AU - Anders, Sven
AU - Raupach, Tobias
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - BACKGROUND: The coronavirus pandemic has led to increased use of digital teaching formats in medical education. A number of studies have assessed student satisfaction with these resources. However, there is a lack of studies investigating changes in student performance following the switch from contact to virtual teaching. Specifically, there are no studies linking student use of digital resources to learning outcome and examining predictors of failure.METHODS: Student performance before (winter term 2019/20: contact teaching) and during (summer term 2020: no contact teaching) the pandemic was compared prospectively in a cohort of 162 medical students enrolled in the clinical phase of a five-year undergraduate curriculum. Use of and performance in various digital resources (case-based teaching in a modified flipped classroom approach; formative key feature examinations of clinical reasoning; daily multiple choice quizzes) was recorded in summer 2020. Student scores in summative examinations were compared to examination scores in the previous term. Associations between student characteristics, resource use and summative examination results were used to identify predictors of performance.RESULTS: Not all students made complete use of the digital learning resources provided. Timely completion of tasks was associated with superior performance compared to delayed completion. Female students scored significantly fewer points in formative key feature examinations and digital quizzes. Overall, higher rankings within the student cohort (according to summative exams) in winter term 2019/20 as well as male gender predicted summative exam performance in summer 2020. Scores achieved in the first formative key feature examination predicted summative end-of-module exam scores.CONCLUSIONS: The association between timely completion of tasks as well as early performance in a module and summative exams might help to identify students at risk and offering help early on. The unexpected gender difference requires further study to determine whether the shift to a digital-only curriculum disadvantages female students.
AB - BACKGROUND: The coronavirus pandemic has led to increased use of digital teaching formats in medical education. A number of studies have assessed student satisfaction with these resources. However, there is a lack of studies investigating changes in student performance following the switch from contact to virtual teaching. Specifically, there are no studies linking student use of digital resources to learning outcome and examining predictors of failure.METHODS: Student performance before (winter term 2019/20: contact teaching) and during (summer term 2020: no contact teaching) the pandemic was compared prospectively in a cohort of 162 medical students enrolled in the clinical phase of a five-year undergraduate curriculum. Use of and performance in various digital resources (case-based teaching in a modified flipped classroom approach; formative key feature examinations of clinical reasoning; daily multiple choice quizzes) was recorded in summer 2020. Student scores in summative examinations were compared to examination scores in the previous term. Associations between student characteristics, resource use and summative examination results were used to identify predictors of performance.RESULTS: Not all students made complete use of the digital learning resources provided. Timely completion of tasks was associated with superior performance compared to delayed completion. Female students scored significantly fewer points in formative key feature examinations and digital quizzes. Overall, higher rankings within the student cohort (according to summative exams) in winter term 2019/20 as well as male gender predicted summative exam performance in summer 2020. Scores achieved in the first formative key feature examination predicted summative end-of-module exam scores.CONCLUSIONS: The association between timely completion of tasks as well as early performance in a module and summative exams might help to identify students at risk and offering help early on. The unexpected gender difference requires further study to determine whether the shift to a digital-only curriculum disadvantages female students.
KW - Curriculum
KW - Educational Measurement/methods
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Learning
KW - Male
KW - Pandemics
KW - Prospective Studies
KW - Students, Medical
KW - Teaching
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0268331
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0268331
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 35544546
VL - 17
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 5
M1 - e0268331
ER -