Students’ perceptions of Toxicolitaire™– a digital card game for medical toxicology students

Abstract

Introduction

Toxicology students are frequently overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of information. To enhance the learning experience, medical toxicology lecturers created a digital card game named Toxicolitaire™. We sought to explore students' experiences with the online game.

Methods

We first sent an anonymous, closed-ended survey to 18 students. This survey allowed students to give quick binary answers about the game. We followed the survey with in-person focus group interviews to identify themes of student perceptions about the game.

Results

We identified several themes concerning the students' experiences. Students found the game amusing and reported that it stimulated critical thinking. Students perceived that the game fostered self-regulated learning, pinpointed gaps in their toxicology knowledge, and facilitated their examination preparation. Students mentioned software-related problems in the game and expressed a preference for the physical card game. Students suggested adjusting the game to varying levels of difficulty and complexity. Students praised the game as an excellent tool for medical professionals and expressed a strong inclination to recommend it to their colleagues.

Discussion

The effectiveness of an educational game depends on its design, execution, and alignment with the target audience's needs and likings. Player feedback may contribute to an educational game's effectiveness in supporting learning objectives. Encouraging participants to provide feedback fostered a sense of community and involvement in the game. Limitations of this study include the subjective interpretation by the researcher, the small sample size of 18 students, the students' prior knowledge gained from two years of toxicology education, and the students' awareness of the study's purpose.

Conclusion

The students gave positive feedback and reported that the online Toxicolitaire™ game was fun, reinforced classroom learning, promoted self-regulated learning, and stimulated critical thinking and examination preparation.

Keywords:

• Medical toxicology
• critical thinking
• self-regulated learning
• focus group interviews
• gamification

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.