First steps of learning analytics in a blended learning general practice curriculum at Saarland University - a quantitative approach

Abstract

Objectives: Medical education has been revolutionized by the growing importance of digital learning. Little is known about students’ online study behaviour and its relationship with exam performance. This quantitative study analyses and describes students’ digital learning behaviours in a blended learning curriculum for General practice at Saarland University, Germany. It also examines the relationship between digital learning behaviour and exam performance.

Methods: Cohort and individualized AMBOSS® user data from 195 students at Saarland University was analysed quantitatively. Performance in course-specific multiple-choice question sessions and user data of the integrated online learning activities were correlated with each other and with General practice exam grades. Anonymized data from 10,534 students from 35 other German universities served as the reference cohort. Differences in digital learning behaviour between the groups were calculated using Mann-Whitney-U-Test for non-normally distributed data.

Results: Students in the blended learning course used integrated content more frequently than the reference cohort (U=48777, p<0.001). The number of digital learning cards read correlated moderately with digital formative assessment performance (ρ=0.331, p=0.005 and ρ=0.217, p=0.034). Formative assessment scores and exam results correlated strongly in the summer semester cohort (ρ=0.505, p<0.001), and moderately in the winter semester cohort (ρ=0.381, p<0.001).

Conclusion: There is a difference in the usage of online learning activities when they are purposefully integrated into a curriculum. Digital learning activities including formative assessment may serve as valuable, constructively aligned exam preparation. This is relevant for medical educators when planning future blended learning curricula and portfolio systems, as it may save financial and human resources.