No abstract

Medical students have unprecedented access to a large variety of learning resources, but patterns of resource use, differences in use across education cohorts, and the relationship between resource use and academic performance are unclear. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to evaluate student resource use and its relationship to academic performance during preclerkship years. First-year and second-year medical students completed a 10-question electronic survey that assessed likelihood of using outside resources recommended by others, reasons for using outside resources, frequency of use of resources, and use of outside resources for specific disciplines. Outcomes were compared between the 2 cohorts of students. First-year students were more likely to use instructor-produced resources and self-generated study resources, and second-year students were more likely to use board review resources. Although differences were found between cohorts for frequency of use of certain resources, correlations between resource use and academic performance were modest. Overall, our results indicated that student use of study resources changed between the first and second years of medical school. These results suggest opportunities for medical educators to guide students in the selection and effective use of outside resources as they mature as self-regulated learners. Further, since students seem to extensively use external resources for learning, institutions should consider calibrating their curriculum and teaching methods to this learning style and providing high-quality, accessible resource materials for all students to reduce the potential impact of socioeconomic factors on student performance.

Understanding student resource use and selection can be informative to instructors and may guide curricular development and student advising. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the specific study resources students rely on in their first‐year academic courses, to determine the degree of influence various sources have on resource selection, and to determine the frequency of use of outside resources for specific disciplines. Further, we will investigate if resource use changes over time, and we hypothesize that resource use may vary based on level of academic performance. A survey was developed and sent to first‐year medical students in the fall semester. Preliminary survey responses were summarized and will be linked to academic and library records. First year students reported using instructor slides, self‐generated resources, and practice questions most frequently. Outside resources such as http://Youtube.com and Wikipedia were also reported as being frequently used. Survey responses indicated that students find recommendations for outside resources identified by other students most influential compared to recommendations from the internet, faculty, and the library. Students reported more frequent use of outside resources for anatomy compared to other disciplines, especially clinical science and osteopathic principles and practice. Additional analyses will be performed to determine if survey responses vary with academic performance and will be expanded to include additional student cohorts.