Twelve tips for medical students to establish a collaborative flashcard project

Aug 29, 2026

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Medical students employ various study strategies to master large amounts of information during their medical education. Digital flashcards combine active recall and spaced repetition to support knowledge retention, and can be studied during and beyond undergraduate training. However, producing high-quality flashcards can be burdensome. This article provides twelve practical tips to establish and maintain a student-run collaborative digital flashcard project aligned with the undergraduate medical curriculum.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Digital flashcards for medical curricula

Rationale for collaboration

Tips for establishing and maintaining a collaborative project

Tip 1: Succeed with collaboration

Tip 2: Target curricular content

Medical Teacher ISSN: 0142-159X (Print) 1466-187X (Online) Journal homepage: [http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/imte20](http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/imte20) Twelve tips for medical students to establish a collaborative flashcard project Michael Hart-Matyas, Alexandra Taylor, Han Joo Lee, Mark A. Maclean, Amaris Hui & Anna Macleod To cite this article: Michael Hart-Matyas, Alexandra Taylor, Han Joo Lee, Mark A. Maclean, Amaris Hui & Anna Macleod (2018): Twelve tips for medical students to establish a collaborative flashcard project, Medical Teacher, DOI: 10. 1080/0142159X.2018.1426843 To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1426843](https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1426843) Published online: 29 Jan 2018. | Submit your article to this journal | | --- | | Article views: 172 | | View related articles | | View Crossmark data | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=imte20](http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=imte20) MEDICAL TEACHER, 2018 [https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1426843](https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1426843) | TWELVE TIPS | | | | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | Twelve tips for medical students to establish a collaborative flashcard project
Michael Hart-Matyas, Alexandra Taylor, Han Joo Lee, Mark A. Maclean , Amaris Hui and Anna Macleod
Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada | | | | ABSTRACT
Medical students employ various study strategies to master large amounts of information during their medical education. Digital flashcards are an interactive, self-directed study stool that may improve knowledge retention by combining the principles of active recall and spaced-repetition. They may be studied during and beyond undergraduate medical education. However, making flashcards can be an onerous task. In this article, we describe twelve tips on how to establish and maintain a collaborative digital flashcard project based on the undergraduate medical curriculum. | | | | Introduction
Undergraduate medical education involves a demanding curriculum with the expectation that learners master large amounts of information. Various study strategies are commonly employed by medical students to achieve this task, including: note taking, rote memorization and others (Augustin 2014; Saeidifard et al. 2014; West et al. 2014) . An alternative method proposed to improve knowledge retention is the use of digital flashcards. These incorporate the principles of active recall and spaced repetition. Unlike recognition memory, which involves identifying an answer based on familiarity (Manns et al. 2003), active recall requires that a learner accurately retrieve the answer. Spaced repetition involves repeated exposure to the same prompt over increasing time intervals. Numerous studies have demonstrated that these principles are effective for improving long-term memory recall (Morris et al. 2005; Kerfoot 2010; Storm et al. 2010; Dobson 2012; TaveiraGomes et al. 2014) .
Digital (electronic) flashcards may serve as an excellent platform for studying the medical curriculum (Ruiz et al. 2006; Taveira-Gomes et al. 2014) . The digital-nature allows flashcards to be easily updated and edited according to the newest clinical evidence and guidelines. Many free flashcard software applications are compatible with different operating systems and devices, thereby permitting users to study anywhere they take their devices. Lastly, digital flashcard creation and editing are team-friendly responsibilities that can be divided amongst a number of students, fostering collaboration and lessening individual workload (Bow et al. 2013) .
An instructional guide on how to establish and maintain a collaborative digital flashcard project based on the undergraduate medical curriculum has not been previously published. Herein, twelve tips are presented for im

FAQs

Why use digital flashcards in undergraduate medical education?

Digital flashcards support knowledge retention by combining active recall with spaced repetition. They can be used during and beyond undergraduate medical education.

What makes creating flashcards challenging for students?

Making flashcards can be an onerous task. Collaboration also introduces risks such as missed deadlines and inconsistent card quality.

What is the main purpose of the article’s “twelve tips”?

The article presents twelve tips for implementing a student-run collaborative digital flashcard project, using free software and file-sharing, to improve knowledge retention based on the undergraduate curriculum.

Aug 29, 2026

Upload by Mason