COMPARING SPACED AND MASSED PRACTICES AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF LEARNING ASSESSMENT

Background: In spaced practice, learning is assisted by several time intervals between short learning sessions. In massed practice, the process of learning is assisted by using a few intervals between longer sessions. This study aims to explore two opposite learning strategies that are spaced and massed practice in regard of effectiveness and satisfaction levels. Materials & Methods: A quantitative research methodology was utilized to compare two faculty development programs that used spaced and massed learning methodologies at different phases of learning. Sixteen faculty members were enlisted from King Abdul-Aziz University’s (KAU) Faculty of Medicine in Jeddah. The assessment of spaced and massed practices among faculty members was determined through primary and secondary outcome evaluation. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 23.0) was used to analyze the numerical data. A comparison of the satisfaction levels of students involved in the modules supervised by the faculty members of both groups, along with their success rate (based on the annual course reports) was tested using a paired samples t-test. A chi-squared test was employed to identify relationships between other categorical variables in the report. Results: Massed practices and spaced practices were applied on two groups to compare their learning effectiveness. Most faculty members from both groups were judged to be able to use their skills in real-world situations. However, student satisfaction was better in massed practices than in spaced practices, despite the higher success rate for students taught utilizing the spaced type technique. Although differences in other areas were not statistically significant, the massed group exhibited a statistically significant increased use of assessment blueprint and constructed the blueprint according to evidence-based recommendations than the spacing group. However, in terms of successful course results, massed practices were more beneficial than spaced practices. Conclusion: As both learning strategies can provide positive outcomes in particular learning environments, Therefore, suitable learning strategy selection is based on the developed scenarios and context.