The educational value of online mastery quizzes in a human anatomy course for first-year dental students

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of online mastery quizzes in enhancing dental students' learning and preparedness for anatomy examinations. First-year dental students taking an integrated anatomy course at The Ohio State University were administered online mastery quizzes, made available for five days before each examination. The mastery quizzes were comprised of ten multiple-choice questions representative of the upcoming examination in content and difficulty. The students were allowed to access this resource as many times as they desired during the five-day window before each examination; the highest score for each student was added to his or her final course grade. The results indicate that almost all the students took advantage of this resource to reinforce content, clarify concepts, and prepare for the examinations. Statistical analyses of the students' exam performance showed that the mastery quizzes neither improved nor reduced their exam scores, but multiple regression analyses showed that the initial mastery quiz scores had a predictive value for their examination performance, suggesting a potential for mastery quizzes as an intervention tool for such a course. Online mastery quizzes, when used effectively, may be an effective resource to further engage dental and other students in educational endeavors and examination preparation and as a predictor of success.