Designing EthAKUL: A mobile just-in-time learning environment for bioethics in Pakistan

In developing countries such as Pakistan, bioethics has not been included in mainstream thinking in medical education. The authors’ experiences suggest that current methods of teaching bioethics are problematic as students are unable to translate theory to practice. Alternative pedagogies, such as just-in-time learning (JiTL) using mobile devices, may be able to foster the development and implementation of ethical reasoning among nurses, doctors, and medical and nursing students. This research was conceived to determine the effectiveness of mobile JiTL – anytime, anyplace learning through mobile devices – for teaching bioethics. After obtaining ethical clearance, a participatory design (PD) approach was adopted to ensure input from all stakeholders for the design of ‘EthAKUL’, comprising a mobile app, five modules and just-in-time pedagogy. The name of the app is an acronym evoking ethics, learning and the university where the project originated. As a part of the design process, three PD workshops were held with junior doctors, nurses, nursing students, medical students and bioethics teaching faculty, and five meetings were held with faculty members, to discuss functional specifications and user-acceptance testing of the app. The feedback related to the nature of common ethical issues encountered in clinical settings, the existing process of teaching and learning bioethics, and the requested features of the app were recorded. These data sets were analyzed and synthesized into functional and technical specifications for the mobile app. The software programmers developed the app with the close involvement of the stakeholders. The development of teaching content continued alongside this process. While this enabled EthAKUL’s developers to incorporate needs of all stakeholders, challenges were encountered in the process relating to the pragmatic and conceptual aspects of JiTL, ML and PD. We discuss the implications of this research in bringing about transformative changes in higher education

Speaking Their Language: Integrating Social Media into Childbirth Education Practice

With the advancement of modern technology, the internet has become a standard platform for many forms of communication and education. The majority of pregnant females fall into the cohort known as Millenials and have experienced technology since early in life. Millenials consider technology as part of their everyday life and use it for personal interaction or a source of information. The established comfort with the use of technology combined with busy lifestyles, multiple commitments, transportation costs or logistics, childcare, or a desire for privacy, support the use of perinatal online learning. This article examines options that childbirth educators may consider for integrating social media or other forms of technology into their repertoire

Pregnancy Apps: A Closer Look at the Implications for Childbirth Educators

Most pregnant women download an average of three pregnancy apps during their gestational period. There are no set standards in place for what needs to be included in an app’s description leaving consumers to decide for themselves when it comes to selecting the right app to download. The childbirth educator must be knowledgeable about pregnancy apps, in-tune as to what apps their clientele download, and how to analyze them for credibility. This article presents characteristics associated with women of childbearing age (i.e. Millennial/Net generation); the reasons why pregnant women are turning to apps; the limitations of apps, and the childbirth educator’s role in a smartphone app culture

Information Technology and Childbirth Education

Information Technology and Childbirth Educatio

Speaking Their Language: Integrating Social Media into Childbirth Education Practice

With the advancement of modern technology, the internet has become a standard platform for many forms of communication and education. The majority of pregnant females fall into the cohort known as Millenials and have experienced technology since early in life. Millenials consider technology as part of their everyday life and use it for personal interaction or a source of information. The established comfort with the use of technology combined with busy lifestyles, multiple commitments, transportation costs or logistics, childcare, or a desire for privacy, support the use of perinatal online learning. This article examines options that childbirth educators may consider for integrating social media or other forms of technology into their repertoire

Pregnancy Apps: A Closer Look at the Implications for Childbirth Educators

Most pregnant women download an average of three pregnancy apps during their gestational period. There are no set standards in place for what needs to be included in an app’s description leaving consumers to decide for themselves when it comes to selecting the right app to download. The childbirth educator must be knowledgeable about pregnancy apps, in-tune as to what apps their clientele download, and how to analyze them for credibility. This article presents characteristics associated with women of childbearing age (i.e. Millennial/Net generation); the reasons why pregnant women are turning to apps; the limitations of apps, and the childbirth educator’s role in a smartphone app culture

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