Presented By: Oluwatobi Soares, Baylor College of Medicine
Co-Authors: Nital Appelbaum, Baylor College of Medicine
Kyle Blackburn, Baylor College of Medicine
Adel Hassan, Baylor College of Medicine
Sandra Haudek, Baylor College of Medicine
Elizabeth Merlinsky, Baylor College of Medicine
Purpose
To explore the efficiency of a course-tailored Anki deck by comparing the weekly card total and weekly time spent using Anki of two medical school classes, one class with and one class without access to the course-tailored deck known as "HassAnki" at the time of participating in a required preclinical course at Baylor College of Medicine. With regards to this study, "efficiency" would be measured as maximizing the weekly card total while minimizing the amount of time spent studying using Anki weekly.
Methods
In Spring 2023, rising third (MS3) and fourth (MS4) year students at Baylor College of Medicine were recruited to complete a survey on perceptions and usage of study tools during their orientations. While the MS3s had access to HassAnki, the MS4s did not. The average number of cards completed weekly and the average number of hours spent using Anki weekly were calculated for both classes. Two unpaired t-tests were performed; one comparing the number of cards completed weekly, and another comparing the number of hours spent using Anki weekly.
Results
The 30 responses from the MS3s and 24 responses from the MS4s yielded a response rate of 16% and 14%, respectively. Weekly, the MS3 class spent 27 hours using Anki and completed 434 cards on average, while the MS4 class spent 14 hours using Anki and completed 334 cards on average. The first unpaired t-test revealed no statistical difference between the weekly card totals (p>0.05) but the second t-test showed a statistical difference between the weekly hours spent using Anki (p<0.05).
Conclusions
While HassAnki did not make a significant difference with regards to the number of Anki cards completed weekly, it did significantly increase the number of hours spent using Anki on a weekly basis. Overall, this would imply a lower efficiency for HassAnki compared to the other Anki decks used.