An Analysis of Anki Usage and Strategy of First-Year Medical Students in a Structure and Function Course

It is well known that undergraduate medical education demands learners to master large amounts of material. To help cope with learning, medical students have resorted to e-learning resources that include video lectures, visual mnemonics, and flashcard systems. The purpose of the current study was to determine the usage of Anki (Damien Elmes, https://apps.ankiweb.net/) among first-year medical students in an integrated first-year module consisting of anatomy and physiology. Additionally, this study aimed to elucidate how students used Anki in conjunction with their lectures. Sixty first-year medical students were recruited in a twelve-week longitudinal study consisting of three surveys (Weeks 1, 7, and 13) about usage of Anki and their perceptions of how to use it with formal lecture. About 70% of participants utilized Anki in the course and the usage increased significantly from Week 1 to Weeks 7 and 13. There was variation to how many days a week students used Anki. Survey data shows that students value formal lectures and prefer to supplement their studies with Anki. A large proportion of first-year medical students use Anki to supplement their studies. Faculty should consider ways to incorporate Anki into their teaching to facilitate student learning through active recall and spaced repetition.