Evaluation of mobile learning for the clinical practicum in nursing education: application of the FRAME model

Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation of mobile learning practice for the clinical practicum in nursing education. Nursing students need to practise nursing skills and follow specific clinical procedures in wards. In this study, they were provided with a mobile device for learning purposes, with mobile apps preinstalled for watching nursing videos and conducting clinical assessments. The evaluation was conducted following the Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile Education (FRAME). It included a questionnaire survey involving 265 nursing students and focus group interviews with 20 nursing students, the course coordinator of the clinical practicum and the instructional designer of the mobile apps. The participants shared their views, perceptions and experiences of mobile learning for studying nursing skills and conducting clinical assessment in the practicum context. The results showed the participants’ overall satisfaction with the mobile learning practice. They gave positive feedback on the use of the mobile apps in terms of enabling ubiquitous access to materials for situated learning in wards, and offering effective support for teachers to keep track of students’ learning progress. They also suggested areas for improvements, which emphasised the hardware capacity of devices, training on the use of apps and institutional support for the maintenance of devices. The results of factor analysis showed a composition of underlying factors different from that of the original FRAME model, which suggests contextual variation in the application of the model.