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TrueLearn tips & tricks for faculty

TrueLearn At A Glance

TrueLearn helps improve program outcomes for your learners by utilizing a data-driven approach to exam preparation called SmartBanks. A SmartBank is an interactive learning platform that leverages cognitive research and individualized testing behaviors to guide learning and increase performance on high-stakes exams. When integrating SmartBanks throughout the curriculum, learners take thousands of high quality board-style questions during the year; this data provides faculty and program directors predictive insights to improve underperforming content areas, optimize program evaluation, and identify at-risk learners. 

Key Features and Benefits for Faculty
  • The TrueLearn platform empowers faculty and program directors by:
    • Providing predictive analytics for individual learners, targeted cohorts, and the general program.
    • Aggregating insights and trends that can be used to improve program outcomes and refine the curriculum. 
    • Providing fully transparent insight into the testing behavior of “at-risk” learners. 
    • Simulating test day through assessment exams which provide awareness of strengths and weaknesses to improve performance. 
  • Key features available through the faculty dashboard 
    • Quizzes and Assessments – create, configure, and deploy quizzes and assessments that can be assigned in timed, untimed or tutor mode with detailed performance reports.
    • Review individual, cohort, and program performance benchmarked against the rest of the nation to identify categories and topics that are underperforming.
    • Toggle between data for different academic years, exam banks and groups to leverage longitudinal data and trends.
    • Learner management – review and modify learner information directly in the platform.
    • Faculty management – add new and edit existing faculty members from within the platform.
Best Practice Recommendations
  • Curriculum Development: The key features available through the TrueLearn faculty dashboard can reveal more than study insights for your learners. We recommend integrating TrueLearn into your curriculum through the following means to help evaluate the curriculum and identify trends across content areas: 
    • Deploy Quizzes: The more quizzes your program deploys, the greater insight into subject-matter comprehension your program will have. Quizzes on relevant content should be assigned following didactics or rotations. Quizzes can also be incorporated into a flipped classroom curriculum, aligned to core textbook reading schedules, or integrated into teaching rounds.
      • We recommend assigning quizzes on a cadence of at least once per month throughout the curriculum in a variety of timed, untimed and tutor modes to assess learner knowledge and identify content areas that may need additional support.
    • Deploy Assessments: The majority of TrueLearn institutional subscriptions include mock assessments.  These questions are not included in the learner’s SmartBank and are not available to be taken until you assign the assessment.  Many programs utilize these mock assessments 60-90 days before in-training exams to establish readiness and to identify any areas that may need additional focus.  These assessments provide detailed reports that can be evaluated longitudinally to support program evaluation and curricular changes.
    • Data Driven Decisions:  TrueLearn provides a robust amount of data that can inform curricular decisions.  These data insights can help identify curriculum strengths and weaknesses, assess longitudinal improvement, as well as identify at-risk learners early on.
  • Board Review: The TrueLearn platform allows program leaders to easily create a board review course using questions with question stems that mirror those on the actual exam. By utilizing quizzes, assessments and performance data your program will gain insight into learner exam readiness and can create customized learning plans to improve exam day success.  
    • Deploy Quizzes: When creating quizzes for board review, we recommend using our question cloistering functionality and assigning the quiz in timed mode. This will most accurately predict future exam performance. 
    • Deploy the Mock Assessment: The mock assessment is made up of separate questions than those in the bank, allowing programs to deploy questions that have never been seen before. 
    • Utilize the Question Performance graph to quickly test on or review the questions that were missed by the highest volume of learners. 
  • Customize Learning Plans: The flexibility offered with TrueLearn’s learning platform allows programs to create customized learning plans for individual learners or cohorts.  
    • Use TrueLearn during orientation to assess incoming knowledge, then assign routine quizzes throughout the year to help improve long-term memory of the vast amount of information learners are exposed to. The initial assessment and routine quizzes will show objective data points on learner comprehension of expected learning. 
    • Quizzes specific to rotations or reading plans can be assigned starting in the PGY2 year to help with application of knowledge and deeper learning. 
    • Create a learning plan for your chief residents.  These learning plans should focus on more difficult questions and board exam material to ensure learner readiness and optimal program first-time pass rates. 
  • Encourage learners to follow our learner best practices and help them get started by following this guide. 
Support and Resources
  • For technical support, please contact the customer support team for assistance. Please note, the support team is available Monday – Friday during the business hours of 9:00am – 5:00pm ET. 
  • Faculty members can also reach out to your assigned Account Manager. If you do not know who your Account Manager is, please contact support and they can assist you. 

To take advantage of the different features in the platform, please see our TrueLearn Faculty Platform Guide

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