Abstract:

Medical science is a complex area dealing with increasing amounts of knowledge. It is imperative to design information management tools in health sciences to be used in the learning context.

ALERT STUDENT, a medical education platform, was devised to provide such tools aiming at the optimization of knowledge retention, and save of studying time. The platform splits medical knowledge into small chunks named Flashcards that can be combined into custom aggregations called Notebooks enclosing specific learning goals. Using study mode (SM) users can easily navigate content, highlight text, take notes, track study time and prioritize content according to percept-knowledge (PK). A Quiz Mode (QM) provides self-assessment questions regarding flashcard content. Percept-knowledge assessment for each Flashcard is graded using a 4 level Likert scale from 1 (full knowledge) to 4 (no knowledge).

A group of 47 students used the platform for study and knowledge assessment on a Notebook about molecular biology in three sessions (S1, S2 and S3) separated by one-week intervals. In S1, students used the QM for 10 minutes. In S2 and S3, students used SM for 15 minutes before using QM. Study time and PK were collected for each Flashcard and for each user.

Notebook study time significantly decreased over the sessions. The main source of PK variance was the study session since there was a general decrease in PK over the sessions. Additionally, students in S3 significantly spent more time in content classified as harder, and less time in the items classified as easier during S2 QM.

ALERT STUDENT seems to allow reduction of study time through individual prioritization of study content according to self-PK, and reutilization of content over study sessions. Study tracking, as well as prioritization of study content based of previous PK and study time, creates a tailored learning environment that is likely to bring gains in terms of knowledge retained and time invested.

Keywords:

Health science education, Information management, e-learning, Evidence-based learning, Tailored learning, Student-centered learning, percept-knowledge.