What do Capsule users value most about the clinical learning platform?
With an increasing number of users joining Capsule, we wanted to know exactly what our learners and teachers valued most about the platform alongside what the usage trends and patterns were. Doing so, would allow us to highlight features and functionality which users favoured and as a result, this could help strengthen further development plans moving forward.
Capsule is totally unique in its approach to clinical learning because it focuses on the needs of the students and the teachers alike. By this we mean, not only does it support medical students in their clinical learning but it also gives teaching staff the insight and analytics they need to assess which students may need early intervention or additional support.
Additionally, because the platform is powered by UK medical schools expertise, it means that all content housed within the platform is up to date with the latest industry standards. All 700+ realistic clinical cases are written and edited by senior medical educators and content is maintained by an editorial board to ensure accuracy and alignment to the medical curriculum.
How we gained insight
To gain insight and an understanding of our users, we created a short user survey in 2020 which participants were invited to complete at their leisure. The majority of the participants were medical students with a smaller number of responses from teaching/clinical staff.
The questions allowed us to gain knowledge around how learners were using the resource and which areas of the platform they favoured the most.
Top 5 features which users value most about Capsule and why they’re crucial for clinical learning
#1 Case-based learning approach and relevance to clinical practice
Participants mentioned how much they value the case based learning approach and highlighted that the content is rich and diverse. It was also mentioned that all questions were at an appropriate difficulty level and how useful the cases were during a time when placements were cancelled due to the global pandemic.
“Good range and depth of questions to test knowledge and highlight areas to work on.”
“The case based learning, I think its especially helpful to learn this way, but only once the basics are known. Therefore, it can act as a building resource to increase the knowledge.”
“Allows me to apply the information I've learnt and also exposes me to new conditions/ treatment pathways. It's especially useful since a lot of placement has been cancelled.”
Case-based learning to develop critical thinking skills
Case-based learning allows students to apply their medical knowledge in real-world scenarios. This promotes higher levels of cognition and deeper learning by prompting the use of critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking skills are crucial for medical students because it allows them to practice analysing medical facts to form a clear and unbiased judgement. This is a skill which is vital for students studying medicine because they can usually master an enormous body of knowledge, but they can sometimes lack systematic problem solving abilities which hinder their success in clinical decision making.
It has been reported that critical thinking should be a basic learning requirement amongst medical students because it will promote better decision making when they work on the ward or in the community. The absence of critical thinking has resulted in a lot of new doctors struggling to practice independently which can dramatically slow down day to day operations.
#2 Reliable content
It became obvious that users of Capsule trusted the content because they were recommended to use it by their school. This gave them confidence that all content came from a reliable source, so they could always trust what they were reading.
“The cases are well laid out, they follow a logical progression. Was recommended by my medical school so I know it's a reliable resource.”
Reliable content to keep up with the changing landscape of medical education
Medicine is changing rapidly and whilst this is not a new phenomenon, the COVID-19 pandemic made it abundantly clear that the medical education system can’t afford to remain static.
Digital learning resources such as Capsule are invaluable for clinical learning because they enable any changes made to the medical curriculum to be taught immediately. Having content that is edited and maintained by senior medical educators ensures that students can completely rely on what they are learning which instils confidence when working on the ward or in the community.
#3 Quality of feedback
Another key area that was mentioned was the quality of the feedback. Participants mentioned how informative and helpful the feedback was and participants liked the fact it was immediate feedback too.
“Excellent feedback/explanation on answers.”
“Can get quick right/wrong results with feedback this is very helpful”
In-depth feedback to help students gain a deeper understanding of clinical cases
Feedback should always go beyond simply providing the correct answer and in fact, when you increase the complexity of the feedback message, your learners are more likely to recall the information and gain a holistic understanding of the clinical problem at hand.
#4 Exam-style format which they can access anywhere on mobile
Many participants said they liked how the cases are structured in a similar format to what they would see in their exams. This format includes; an example medical case with a multiple choice answer for the student to pick the correct solution to the medical issue. Users also mentioned how useful they find Capsule as a revision tool and participants enjoyed the fact you could use the platform on the go on a mobile or desktop device.
“Use it mainly for revision as the format of questions is of a similar style to that in my exams and the feedback is given is extremely helpful. Easy format to understand and I enjoy having it as an app as well as on my laptop”
Mobile access to improve the effectiveness
With the vast amount of knowledge which medical students have to retain on a regular basis, it’s important that they have access to clinical learning materials whenever they need them. Making learning content available on mobile has significant benefits which can improve the medical learner’s experience;
43% of learners saw improved productivity levels compared to non-mobile users.
71% of Millennials say they connect more with mobile learning than learning materials delivered via desktop or formal methods.
45% of those who use smartphones to access eLearning complete online courses faster.
#5 Reporting
It was frequently mentioned how much users liked reviewing their progress which helps them to highlight areas of improvement. They also found the ability to compare with their cohort particularly useful.
“Love the aesthetics and easy to see and review my weaker areas”
Reporting to drive better performance
Presenting performance data back to medical students has a big impact that shouldn’t be overlooked. Unlike traditional methods of learning, digital learning makes it easy for medical students to view their current performance highlighting areas of strength and weakness. Empowering students to view where they are going wrong is more likely to make them take full accountability and responsibility of their failures and as a result, are more driven to improve and make a change.
Being able to view their score compared to their cohort is a feature which is underpinned by the social comparison theory. This theory was introduced in the 1950s by social psychologist Leon Festinger who pointed out that humans are driven to evaluate and know the truth about themselves, and desire a way to define themselves. They achieve this by comparing their abilities and opinions to those of others.
Because humans constantly want to evolve and improve, when we compare ourselves to those who are ahead of us it inspires us to achieve more and perform better.
How often learners are using Capsule
Figure 4 shows that 41% of participants use Capsule weekly and 29% of participants use it daily. This level of engagement is essential for retaining information and any lower will result in the majority of knowledge being lost.
Hermann Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve was created from a study on memory retention which found that after just one hour people will forget 50% of the information which was given to them, within 24 hours they will have forgotten 70% and after a month 90% of what was learnt will have been forgotten.
In order for medical students to keep up with the sheer volume of knowledge that they need to retain, it’s crucial that they have the tools available which make it easy for them to learn on a daily or weekly basis.
To summarise, users of Capsule value; case-based learning, reliable content, quality of feedback, exam-style formatting, ease of access and performance reporting the most. This blend of features and benefits provides the optimal learning environment to improve clinical knowledge and enables students to confidently apply this in a clinical setting.
