Abstract
BackgroundmLearning is increasingly presented as an attractive novel educational strategy for medical and nursing education. Yet, evidence base for its effectiveness or factors which influence use, success, implementation or adoption are not clear. We aim to synthesise findings from qualitative studies to provide insight into the factors (barriers and facilitators) influencing adoption, implementation and use of mobile devices for learning in medical and nursing education. The review also aims to identify factors or actions which are considered to optimise the experience and satisfaction of educators and learners in using mobile technologies for medical and nursing education and to identify strategies for improving mLearning interventions for medical and nursing education.MethodsA systematic search will be conducted across a range of databases for studies describing or evaluating the experiences, barriers, facilitators and factors pertaining to the use of mLearning for medical and nursing education. The framework synthesis approach will be used to organise and bring different components of the results together. The confidence in the qualitative review findings will be assessed using the CERQual approach.DiscussionThis study will contribute to the planning and design of effective mLearning and the development of mLearning guidelines for medical and nursing education.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42016035411 Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-016-0354-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
MLearning is increasingly presented as an attractive novel educational strategy for medical and nursing education
A meta-analysis by Free and colleagues [13] included seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and investigated the educational outcomes associated with the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and portable media players in medical and nursing education
Amongst the many conceptual frameworks that could be validly used for synthesis in this review, we considered Laurillard’s comprehensive Conversational Pedagogical Framework
Summary
MLearning is increasingly presented as an attractive novel educational strategy for medical and nursing education. In the past five decades, eLearning (electronic learning) has increasingly been used in health professional education, and technological advances have produced various forms of eLearning modalities such as computer-based simulations, virtual patients and internet-based courses and interactive content [1] Adoption of these educational strategies in health professional education is substantial, fast growing and yet appears to be ahead of establishing a robust evidence base for consideration of mLearning can provide access to educational content and information in daily clinical practice [7,8,9]; enable. A meta-analysis by Free and colleagues [13] included seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and investigated the educational outcomes associated with the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and portable media players in medical and nursing education These studies looked at the effectiveness of mLearning in improving the knowledge and attitudes; the meta-analysis showed no clear evidence of benefit. Students’ perceived attributes of the intervention, such as attitudes and satisfaction, can contribute to successful implementation [14]
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