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Using mobile technologies to give health students access to learning resources in the UK community setting
journal contribution
posted on 2008-02-28, 17:22 authored by Graham Walton, Sue Childs, Elizabeth BlenkinsoppObjectives
: This article describes a project which explored the potential for
mobile technologies to give health students in the community access to learning
resources. The purpose included the need to identify possible barriers students
could face in using mobile technologies. Another focus was to assess the students
perceptions of the importance of being able to access learning resources in the
community.
Methods
: This 1-year project used two main approaches for data collection.
A review of the literature on mobile technologies in the health context was
conducted. This was used in a systematic way to identify key issues and trends.
The literature review was used to inform the design and production of a questionnaire.
This was distributed to and completed by a group of community
health students at Northumbria University, UK. The questionnaire was
piloted and there was a 100% completion rate with 49 returned forms.
Results
: The literature review indicated that most mobile technology applications
were occurring in the US. At the time of the review the most prevalent mobile
technologies were PDAs, laptops, WAP phones and portable radios with use
being concentrated around doctors in the acute sector. A range of advantages
and disadvantages to the technology were discovered. Mobile technologies were
mainly being used for clinical rather than learning applications. The students
showed a low level of awareness of the technology but placed great importance
to accessing learning resources from the community.
Conclusions
: Significant development and changes are taking place in mobile
technologies. Since the data collection for this work was completed in 2004
podcasting and videocasting have become significant in mobile learning for
health professionals. Librarians will need to address the relevance and implications
of m-learning for their practice. Care and consideration needs to be given
on the time and resources librarians allocate for the necessary development
work around mobile technologies. Collaboration and partnership working will
be most effective approach for librarians wishing to integrate their services with
m-learning technologies.
History
School
- University Academic and Administrative Support
Department
- University Library
Citation
WALTON, G., CHILDS, S. and BLENKINSOPP, E., 2005. Using mobile technologies to give health students access to learning resources in the UK community setting. Health information and libraries journal, 22 (suppl. 2), pp. 51-65Publisher
© Blackwell Science Ltd., published on behalf of the Health Libraries Group and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information ProfessionalsPublication date
2005Notes
This article is Restricted Access. It was published in the journal, Health information and libraries journal [© Blackwell Science Ltd.] and is available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/HIRISSN
1471-1834Language
- en