A Controlled Study of Improvements in Student Exam Performance With the Use of an Audience Response System During Medical School Lectures

Abstract

Improvements in test scores found in previous studies may have been due to the inclusion of questions in the lecture rather than the use of ARS. Embedding questions into lectures is beneficial, either with or without ARS technology.

Case Based Review Questions, Review Sessions, and Call Schedule Type Enhance Knowledge Gains in a Surgical Clerkship

“…They found no significant difference in test scores between the 2 groups (paired sample t-test, p ϭ 0.388). 15 The authors concluded that it was not just the ARS systems that aided students' knowledge gains; it was the use of questions. In our study, we noted a significant gain in surgical NBME scores by adding case-based question style sessions to our standard didactics.…”

Effect of audience response system technology on learning outcomes in health students and professionals

“…Finally, reviewer-level limitations include incomplete retrieval of information for several of the citations excluded, the exclusion of nine studies for not meeting the study design criteria, and the existence of other relevant studies not identified with this reviews search strategy resulting in bias. However, as the results and conclusions reported in seven [16][17][18][19][20][21] out of nine citations excluded for inadequate study designs were in line with this review (i.e., there was no effect of ARS on learning outcomes), search strategy bias was unlikely.…”

Do questions help? The impact of audience response systems on medical student learning: a randomised controlled trial

“…In fact, Stoddard and Piquette29 showed that there was no difference in educational outcomes between lecturers that incorporated ARSs and lecturers that simply put the same multiple choice questions to the class. In contrast, Mayer et al 30 found that using ARSs to answer questions during a lecture increased examination scores relative to answering the same questions without ARSs.…”