Learning to be Agile in Medical Teaching

Abstract

Technological change is a constant. At the moment, we are seeing a significant shift from desktop devices to mobile devices. Of particular note, there is the shift towards the use of tablets that have been termed Bagile devices^ [1] because of their unique affordances. For example, they are more portable than laptops, start up in a fraction of the time, have a significantly longer battery life and can be populated from a range of thousands of applications. Penetration of these devices in the market place is set to exceed the penetration of desktop devices [2]. We are also seeing a shift from applications installed on computers to cloud-based computing. In reality, this means the provision of applications as a service rather than as a product. For example, Google Drive offers an online cloud-based office suite and Google Market Place provides hundreds of Web-based applications. In addition to the shift to mobile, cloud-based computing, our understanding of the delivery of educational experiences is also shifting significantly. MOOCs have called the predominant educational paradigm into question. Apple provides educational content through iTunes U and Google provides the YouTube Edu Channel. Whilst we are seeing significant educational changes as a result of the changing technological landscape, our focus in this paper is tablet devices. The reason for this is that tablets— whether Apple or Android—are ubiquitous and they are set to overcome desktop devices in terms of market penetration. This fact presents both a challenge and an opportunity. In terms of challenge, educators need to be aware that students are increasingly mobile with anywhere any time access to information. Beyond this, they can communicate and collaborate anywhere and at any time allowing for group-based learning to take place Bon the go^. As the result of the proliferation of applications through iTunes and through the Google Market Place, educators have the opportunity to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. Here, the quality is understood in terms of the extent to which any particular course enables to achieve the intended learning outcomes whilst at the same time giving them a positive educational experience. We will return to this point at the end of our paper when we discuss pedagogy. Students and doctors can make use of tablets to aid learning. At the most basic level, there are medical eBooks that can be read on a tablet (http://www.ebooks.com/subjects/ medicine/). Inkling is particularly strong in terms of the range of medical subjects covered by their eBooks (https:// www.inkling.com/store/category/medicine/). Students can also use eLearning-based modules [3]. This takes learning a step further with the inclusion of online assessment. This aligns with the classic dictum that assessment drives learning. An additional advantage with these applications is that feedback is immediately available. This contrasts with the typical examination situation for medical students where the provision of feedback is still limited leaving students wondering exactly what they Bgot wrong^ and why they got it wrong * Iain Doherty iaindoherty@yahoo.com