Fischbach, Christina Eleora Sophie (2026) From First Click to Final Cram: Medical Students’ E-Learning Usage Patterns across the Assessment Schedule: A Data Mining Study in a Blended Dutch Curriculum. thesis, Medicine.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Cramming intractably continues to exist, even though its shortcomings are well established. Trying to absorb large amounts of information before an examination is ineffective at producing long-term retention and hinders knowledge application. These are especially relevant during medical training, where cramming approaches ultimately impair clinical reasoning and problem�solving skills essential for effective medical practice. Whether cramming exists in blended learning curricula combining problem-based learning (PBL) with cumulative testing, designed to reduce cramming, remains underexplored. To address this gap, we assessed whether the digital study patterns of students in a blended PBL curriculum are consistent with cramming behaviour as described in the literature. Methods: We performed a retrospective quantitative analysis of e�learning usage in a blended undergraduate curriculum at one medical faculty in the Netherlands. 4 We used logfile data from 48 e-learnings to reveal behavioural patterns of students in relation to the assessment timeline. We applied educational data mining for processing the data and visualized patterns in frequency and duration in e-learning page views. Results: Frequency of page views increased significantly towards the exam. Duration of page views showed an overall positive trend, decreasing in the final days. Discussion: Despite PBL and cumulative testing efforts, cramming seems to persist. This may suggest that the assessment architecture impacts learning behaviour more powerfully than curriculum design alone and that the high-stakes of assessment might be responsible for trapping students in undesirable learning patterns, possibly even undermining the benefits of PBL. Curricular design should likely consider programmatic assessment as a complementary approach to PBL.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Wietasch, prof. dr. J.K.G. and Ebeling, U. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Oct 2026 11:31 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Oct 2026 11:31 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3978 |
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