Kathryn E Darras1, Jeroen J G van Merriënboer2, Matthew Toom3, Nathan D Roberson4, Anique B H de Bruin2, Savvas Nicolaou3, Bruce B Forster3. 1. Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: rostonke@gmail.com. 2. School of Health Professions Education, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. 3. Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 4. Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
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.
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.