Use of an Asynchronous Discussion Platform During the Pre-clerkship Curriculum: A Multiyear Retrospective Study

Introduction: Asynchronous online message boards (OMBs) allow users to write questions or comments and share them with an online group. While the use of OMBs has been associated with positive outcomes in several educational settings, their use has not been studied in pre-clerkship undergraduate medical education (UME). Methods: This multiyear, observational, longitudinal study examined patterns of OMB use in pre-clerkship UME. Descriptive statistics were used to report the number of students and instructors who logged on and contributed, the number of posts, instructor answers, post views, and the average time to answer. Patterns of use by first- and second-year medical students as well as students undergoing remote versus in-person learning were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Results: A total of 9870 posts were made to OMBs, initiated by 3869 student questions. There were 3078 total posts made by instructors and academic support staff and 1024 student answers to student questions. First-year medical students posted significantly more questions (149.83 vs. 83.7, p < 0.001), which resulted in significantly more instructor answers (125.0 vs. 59.1, p < 0.001). Modules during the remote learning period received more student questions (152.0 vs. 96.7, p < 0.001) and produced more instructor answers (123.8 vs. 74.7, p < 0.001) as compared to modules that took place during in-person learning. Discussion: Online message boards represent a readily available tool to stimulate asynchronous discussion in pre-clerkship UME. First-year medical students and students during remote learning were more active on OMBs.