Why?

Experimental studies of human learning and memory the last 100 years have given us insight about how humans learn. Three elements have turned out to be especially important when it comes to learning: Testing, spacing of learning activities and that the subjects you are to learn are presented interleaved. In spite of this research, teaching in classical university subjects such as medicine, pretty much continues the same way it has. Education is organised in blocks, the students are rarely exposed to formative tests and subjects are rarely interleaved.

In Norway, students rate their study programmes every year through the questionnaire Studiebarometeret. One of the elements medical students are unsatisfied with is the lack of continuous feedback throughout the programme of study. In this project, we want to examine if known principles of learning will improve learning in the medical study, and thus also a better result on summative exams. We also wish to examine whether the students themselves experience better formative feedback through participating in the project.

How?

We will invite all medical students at NTNU to take regular tests, spread out through the academic year. Every test consists of multiple choice questions from the current or previous semesters. In order to gain access to the consecutive test, the participants will have to pass a predefined mark, but will be able to redo the test as many times as they want within a predefined time frame.

Our goal

Through our study, we wish to answer the following questions:

• Will students improve their results on the end-of-year summative exam, if they are subjected to spaced, interleaved tests?
• Will the performance of students who use this testing improve, compared to the performance in previous exams?
• Will students be more satisfied with their feedback throughout the academic year, with the introduction of formative testing throughout the year?

Preliminary data will be presented fall of 2018.