Effect of Video Conferencing on Student Academic Performance: Evidence from Preclinical Summative Assessment Scores

Anecdotal evidence suggests learners experience fatigue and burnout from multiple hours on virtual platforms. We compared summative exam performance data of second year preclinical medical students in a medical neuroscience course over consecutive years in which interactive synchronous activities occurred in-person (2019) or entirely online (2020). Exam items that assessed interactive, synchronously delivered content in 2020 had mean scores that were significantly lower than 2019. Interestingly, summative exam performance in the preceding course showed no appreciable difference. Taken together, our findings suggest that prolonged use of virtual platforms in preclinical medical education might negatively impact the efficacy of synchronous learning.