Promoting self-regulated learning: using online question bank testing system to improve the efficiency of regular quizzes

BACKGROUND: Anatomy is regarded as the basic course of medical science. It has the characteristic of a large number of contents, which makes it difficult for students and requires medical students to develop great self-learning ability. Chinese medical students are typically accustomed to passively receiving knowledge. This study aims to utilize the Wen Juan Xing (WJX) platform for in-class quizzes to explore its impact on the learning outcomes of medical students in anatomy courses and to cultivate their self-directed learning habits. METHODS: The experimental group consisted of 369 undergraduate students from the 2018 cohort of the Clinical Medicine program at Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University. The control group comprised 386 students from the 2017 cohort. During the Systematic Anatomy course for the 2018 cohort, five WJX in-class quizzes were conducted, averaging one every 3-4 weeks. The quiz scores contributed to the overall course assessment (accounting for 30%). An online questionnaire survey was administered to all 2018 cohort students enrolled in the Systematic Anatomy course to gather their subjective evaluations of the WJX quizzes. RESULTS: The final exam average score of the 2018 cohort (75.79 ± 13.81) was significantly higher than that of the 2017 cohort (67.52 ± 17.15). The passing rate (88%) was also significantly higher than that of the 2017 cohort (74%). Questionnaire results indicated that over 95% of students held a positive attitude towards the WJX quizzes, believing they improved their self-learning abilities. More than 90% of students reported that the quizzes helped them develop more suitable study plans and cultivate better learning habits. Students widely agreed that the WJX quizzes encouraged regular review, reduced end-of-term exam preparation pressure, and enhanced learning motivation. CONCLUSION: WJX in-class quizzes were associated with significantly higher medical students' academic performance in the anatomy course, students perceived that their self-directed learning abilities were enhanced, and fostered the development of effective learning habits.