Qualitative Assessment of Anki as a Tool for Medical Education

Abstract

Research has shown that active recall testing and spaced repetition improve long-term retention of information (1). Anki is a free, open-source platform that applies these in the form of user-created flashcards. Anki flashcards have been a favored method of studying for medical students across the nation. Anki flashcards were developed for the first-year medical students at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) by second-year medical students. Anki flashcards were based on topics covered in the cardiology and pulmonology unit, and organized into “decks” based on each problem-based learning (PBL) session. “Decks” were sent out once all first-year medical students had completed the respective PBL sessions. After each “deck” was sent out, a follow-up survey asked for the perceived usefulness of the “deck” using the Likert scale. To assess the project’s impact on students’ overall learning, 16 questions were included on their final exams [based on our Anki decks]. Finally, an end-of-unit survey was sent out regarding the efficacy, relevance, and practicality of the flashcards using the Likert scale. Reference: 1. Deng, Francis et al. “Student-directed retrieval practice is a predictor of medical licensing examination performance.” Perspectives on medical education vol. 4,6 (2015): 308-313. doi:10.1007/s40037-015-0220-x