Developing the Evidence Base for M-Learning in Undergraduate Radiology Education: Identifying Learner Preferences for Mobile Apps

Kathryn E. Darras*, Jeroen J. G. van Merrienboer, Matthew Toom, Nathan D. Roberson, Anique B. H. de Bruin, Savvas Nicolaou, Bruce B. Forster

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Purpose: There is a lack of evidence for developing radiology mobile apps for medical students. This study identifies the characteristics which students perceive as most valuable to teaching radiology with mobile apps (m-learning).

Methods: An online anonymous survey was administered to second- to fourth-year medical students at a single institution. The survey, which was based on established theoretical framework, collected students' preferred content organization, content presentation, and delivery strategies. The Copeland method was used to rank student preferences and a 2-tailed t test was used to determine if student responses were related to their clinical experience, with statistical significance at P <.05.

Results: The response rate was 25.6% (163/635). For content organization, image interpretation (66.9%), imaging anatomy (61.3%), and common pathological conditions (50.3%) were selected as the most important. For content presentation, quizzes (49.1%) and case presentations (46.0%) were selected as the most useful. Students with clinical experience rated algorithms as more important (P <.01) and quizzes as less important (P = .03). For delivery strategies, ease of use (92.6%), navigation (90.8%), and gestural design (74.8%) were deemed the most applicable.

Conclusion: This study documents medical students' preferences for m-learning in radiology. Although learner preferences are not the only feature to consider in the development of educational technology, these provide the initial framework for radiologists wishing to develop and incorporate mobile apps into their teaching. (C) 2019 Canadian Association of Radiologists. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)320-326
Number of pages7
JournalCanadian Association of Radiologists Journal
Volume70
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2019

Keywords

  • Education technology
  • Undergraduate
  • Radiology
  • M-learning
  • Mobile apps
  • MEDICAL-EDUCATION
  • SMARTPHONES
  • STUDENTS
  • ANATOMY

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