Evaluation of mobile learning: Students' experiences in a new rural-based medical school

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mobile learning (ML) is an emerging educational method with success dependent on many factors including the ML device, physical infrastructure and user characteristics. At Gippsland Medical School (GMS), students are given a laptop at the commencement of their four-year degree. We evaluated the educational impact of the ML program from students' perspectives.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Questionnaires and individual interviews explored students' experiences of ML. All students were invited to complete questionnaires. Convenience sampling was used for interviews. Quantitative data was entered to SPSS 17.0 and descriptive statistics computed. Free text comments from questionnaires and transcriptions of interviews were thematically analysed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty students completed the questionnaire (response rate 88%). Six students participated in interviews. More than half the students owned a laptop prior to commencing studies, would recommend the laptop and took the laptop to GMS daily. Modal daily use of laptops was four hours. Most frequent use was for access to the internet and email while the most frequently used applications were Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Students appreciated the laptops for several reasons. The reduced financial burden was valued. Students were largely satisfied with the laptop specifications. Design elements of teaching spaces limited functionality. Although students valued aspects of the virtual learning environment (VLE), they also made many suggestions for improvement.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Students reported many educational benefits from school provision of laptops. In particular, the quick and easy access to electronic educational resources as and when they were needed. Improved design of physical facilities would enhance laptop use together with a more logical layout of the VLE, new computer-based resources and activities promoting interaction.</p

Relationships Among Radiologic Science Educators\u27 Years of Teaching Experience, Technological Self-Efficacy, and Digital Technology Use in the Classroom

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to examine the relationships among radiologic science educators’ years of teaching experience, technological self-efficacy, and digital technology use in the classroom. The underuse of technology in higher education is an issue. Students use technology every day and radiologic science students, in particular, are expected to use it proficiently in training and practice. It is important that these students are exposed in the classroom, as technologies beneficial to learning are available. It is also important to determine the role of years of teaching experience in educators’ beliefs about their abilities to use technology and their actual use of it in the classroom. To investigate this issue, a sample of 300 radiologic science educators was surveyed. Seventy-nine educators responded to a sociodemographic questionnaire, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and questions from the Roney Technology Use Scale. Data were collected and analyzed for correlations. There was no significant relationship between years of teaching experience and technological self-efficacy (r(77) = .16, p = .15) or between years of teaching experience and digital technology use in the classroom (r(77) = .20, p = .08). The relationships were, however, slightly positive, suggesting that educators with teaching experience have moderate beliefs in their abilities to use technology and moderate levels of technology use in the classroom. Suggestions for future research include study of the role of age as it relates to teaching experience, didactic versus clinical instructors, and barriers that affect radiologic science educators’ technology use

Qualitative Research in PBL in Health Sciences Education: A Review

CONTEXT Qualitative methodologies are relatively new in health sciences education research, especially in the area of problem-based learning (PBL). A key advantage of qualitative approaches is the ability to gain in-depth, textured insights into educational phenomena. Key methodological issues arise, however, in terms of the strategies of inquiry, data collection methods, and analytical approaches. This review aims to identify and appraise the current applications of qualitative studies in PBL and indicate possible new methodological directions. METHODS Two computerized databases, Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) and PubMed, were screened for solely qualitative studies of PBL in health sciences education between 2000 and 2015. Selected articles were grouped for systematic description, critical analysis, and evaluation, with a key focus on identifying methodological trends. RESULTS The number of recent qualitative research studies of PBL in health sciences education is small but growing, with 61 solely qualitative articles identified in the review period. Four main research issues in PBL were identified for qualitative investigation: (1) participants’ experiences or perceptions; (2) facilitation; (3) assessment; and (4) educational technologies. Participants’ experiences or perceptions of PBL have drawn the most research attention to date. Methodological approaches included: self-reported studies using interview data (n = 29); studies analyzing video recordings of PBL tutorials (n = 9); introspective studies analyzing written reflections (n = 6); and studies using multiple qualitative methods (n = 17). Of the 61 identified studies, the majority are perception studies, with only a limited number focused on PBL processes or interactional analyses. CONCLUSIONS This review presented and analyzed current practices in qualitative studies of PBL in health sciences education and indicated new directions. Research designs are expanding beyond an initial focus on post-hoc perception studies to explore innovative, in situ qualitative inquiries and methodologies