144 - Studying in a Flash: Student Perceptions of Flashcard Usage in the First Semester of medical School

Poster Board Number: 144
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Polly Husmann, PhD - Associate Professor, Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine

Abstract Body : PURPOSE:

Establishing study habits and methods used by first-year medical students, especially in the initial semester, is crucial for student success (Liles et al. 2018). Flashcard programs, such as Anki and Quizlet, have increased in popularity amongst medical students in recent years (Levy et al. 2023). To evaluate student perceptions of their usage of various flashcard programs, a qualitative thematic analysis was conducted. It was hypothesized that students use Anki more than other resources to study for both lecture and lab material.



METHODS:

A set of questions was established to run a focus group of first-year medical students at the Indiana University School of Medicine. The questions were developed and reviewed by a panel of experts to help establish validity. These questions centered around gathering student perceptions of types of resources, time spent and how practice may have changed over time and courses, and the types of content or questions included within the flashcard decks. Invitation to the focus group was open to all first-year medical students, and the focus group was conducted via Zoom. The focus group session was then transcribed within Zoom and reviewed for correctness. The resulting transcript was then coded for common themes of the student's’ perceptions.



RESULTS:

A number of themes and sub themes were developed around the use of flashcard in the first semester of medical school. Students reported changes in their usage of the flashcard programs, as well as their perspectives on what was most useful regarding the programs. Similarities and differences of opinion were also documented between students.



CONCLUSION:

Gathering and encoding medical student perceptions demonstrates important trends in the usage of flashcard programs as a primary form of studying in first semester coursework. Future work in this area may look at the use of flashcard programs in later medical school years, as well as creation of course specific flashcard sets to provide targeted study tools for medical students.