Spaced education activates students in a theoretical radiological science course: A pilot study

Abstract

Background: The present study aimed at determining if the addition of spaced education to traditional face-to-face lectures increased the time students kept busy with the learning content of a theoretical radiological science course. Methods. The study comprised two groups of 21 third-year dental students. The students were randomly assigned to a traditional group and a spaced education group. Both groups followed a traditional face-to-face course. The intervention in the spaced education group was performed in way that these students received e-mails with a delay of 14days to each face-to-face lecture. These e-mails contained multiple choice questions on the learning content of the lectures. The students returned their answers to the questions also by e-mail. On return they received an additional e-mail that included the correct answers and additional explanatory material. All students of both groups documented the time they worked on the learning content of the different lectures before a multiple choice exam was held after the completion of the course. All students of both groups completed the TRIL questionnaire (Trierer Inventar zur Lehrevaluation) for the evaluation of courses at university after the completion of the course. The results for the time invested in the learning content and the results of the questionnaire for the two groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney-U test. Results: The spaced education group spent significantly more time (216.2123.9min) on keeping busy with the learning content compared to the traditional group (58.494.8min, p