Mobile technologies in medical education: AMEE Guide No. 105

Abstract

Mobile technologies (including handheld and wearable devices) have the potential to enhance learning activities from basic medical undergraduate education through residency and beyond. In order to use these technologies successfully, medical educators need to be aware of the underpinning socio-theoretical concepts that influence their usage, the pre-clinical and clinical educational environment in which the educational activities occur, and the practical possibilities and limitations of their usage. This Guide builds upon the previous AMEE Guide to e-Learning in medical education by providing medical teachers with conceptual frameworks and practical examples of using mobile technologies in medical education. The goal is to help medical teachers to use these concepts and technologies at all levels of medical education to improve the education of medical and healthcare personnel, and ultimately contribute to improved patient healthcare. This Guide begins by reviewing some of the technological changes that have occurred in recent years, and then examines the theoretical basis (both social and educational) for understanding mobile technology usage. From there, the Guide progresses through a hierarchy of institutional, teacher and learner needs, identifying issues, problems and solutions for the effective use of mobile technology in medical education. This Guide ends with a brief look to the future.

Notes on contributors

DR. KEN MASTERS, PhD, HDE, FDE, is an Assistant Professor of Medical Informatics, Medical Education and Informatics Unit, Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman. He has been involved in education for over 30 years, and in medical education for over a decade. His publications in medical education consider various theoretical pedagogical perspectives, technologies (such as mobile devices) teaching strategies (such as MOOCs and TBL), and the softer areas (ethics and social impact).

DR RACHEL H. ELLAWAY, PhD, is a Professor of Medical Education in Community Health Sciences and Co-Director of the Office for Health and Medical Education Scholarship at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary in Canada. Her academic work has concentrated on the use of new technologies for teaching and assessment in and around health professional education, along with exploring the theories and philosophies of medical education. She wrote the ‘eMedical Teacher’ column for Medical Teacher, and is the creator and ongoing Maîtresse des Cérémonies for the AMEE Conference Fringe.

DR DAVID TOPPS, MBChB, MRCGP, FCFP, CCFP, Professor Family Medicine at the University of Calgary, has a broad variety of expertise and experience from three countries (Canada, Australia and United Kingdom). He has worked in a variety of clinical settings (rural, urban, academic and team-based). His research interests are also broad: virtual patients, mixed-modality simulation, inter-professional and team-based education especially in CPD, digital professionalism, education informatics, ubiquitous computing and distributed learning, informal and tacit learning.

DR DOUGLAS ARCHIBALD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. His research interests are in educational technology and healthcare education. Dr Archibald is the Program for Innovation in Medical Education (PIME) lead and works to support research, development, and evaluation of projects designed to enhance undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, and faculty development in the Department of Family Medicine. His current research is exploring how electronic consultations can inform continuing professional development for primary care providers.

REBECCA J. HOGUE, BSc, MA, PhD(c), is an ePatient blogger, writer, PhD Candidate in Education at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research interests are in the use of pathography to create rich descriptions of the experience of illness for use in patient advocacy and medical education.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Jay Mercer, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, for contributions and insights. We would also like to thank anonymous reviewers and Professor Trevor Gibbs for comments on an earlier version of this Guide.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Supplementary material available online

A Glossary of Terms used by mobile technologies in medical education and a list of Apps mentioned in this Guide are available as supplementary materials online.