#anatomymcq-A pilot study on using the Twitter survey tool as a formative assessment strategy

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: Various social media portals, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, are emerging fast as effective platforms in anatomy education. Interestingly, the survey tool of Twitter can be utilized to develop multiple-choice questions, where the students may cast their votes in favor of the correct option. To assess the utility of the tool, a study was undertaken over fourteen weeks (twelve weeks of tutorials and two weeks of study break before the end-of-term examination) during the second semester of the 2016-2017 academic year in the University College Dublin School of Veterinary Medicine under voluntary and anonymous participation. Methods: One survey with four alternatives and marked with #anatomymcq was posted on each day of the week, while the correct answer was revealed the following day, also marked with the #anatomymcq-thus, a total of 67 such surveys broadly classifiable under the following topics: gastrointestinal system (n=14), urinary system (n=12), comparative anatomy (n=10), embryology (n=10), reproductive system (n=14) and applied anatomy (n=7) were tweeted. Results: Altogether 263 votes were received (highest in the weeks 7 and 8) for the 67 surveys in the following order: GI system (6.50 votes/survey) > urinary system (4.33 votes/survey) > comparative anatomy (3.60 votes/survey) > embryology (2.90 votes/survey) > reproductive system (2.64 votes/survey) > applied anatomy (2.57 votes/survey). The average daily impressions for the surveys were significantly ( p<0.05) higher than the first week, while the weekly mean engagement rate grew from the first week as well. The weekly total number of hashtag clicks also increased. The student feedback was positive on the exercise. Conclusions: The integrated data highlight the potential of such a tool while identifying its strengths and weaknesses and was able to provide an interactive tool to engage students outside the formal teaching hours while facilitating student learning and engagement.