Online testing from Google Docs™ to enhance teaching of core topics in critical care: a pilot study

Recent evidence suggests that retrieval practice, or learning by testing, may lead to more effective knowledge retention than standard educational techniques.

The purpose of this pilot project was to document successful teaching of evidence-based guidelines in critical care by augmenting interactive problem-based teaching sessions with online pre- and post-testing.

We used a free, internet-based document collaboration system (Google Docs™) 1 to develop and share pre-tests and pre-session teaching files with the fellows. At the teaching sessions the pre-tests were reviewed interactively, and additional case-based questions were presented. One week after the sessions, the fellows were sent a post-test and a post-session survey. Results of the pre- and post-tests as well as the post-session surveys were tabulated by the document collaboration system.

The mean score was 54.6% (SD = 21.4%) on the pre-tests and 87.0% (SD = 15.8%) on the post-tests (p < 0.01). On a scale of 1-10, the median ratings given by the fellows were 9.5 (IQR = 9-10) for utility of the teaching sessions, 9 for utility of the test questions (IQR = 9-10), and 10 (IQR = 9-10) for utility of the teaching files.

Google Docs™ can be successfully used to integrate retrieval practice into the teaching of evidence-based guidelines in critical care.