Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jul 17;19(1):264.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-019-1697-5.

Medical faculty members' perception of smartphones as an educational tool

Oqab Jabali  1 , Munther Saeedi  2 , Ghada Shbeitah  2 , Abed Alkarim Ayyoub  3
Affiliations

Medical faculty members' perception of smartphones as an educational tool

Oqab Jabali et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: The rapid adoption of modern technology has changed many aspects of our life and communication; it has the power to influence and change the way we teach, learn and practice different types of professions mainly teaching and health care providing. Smartphone applications are increasingly becoming popular and widespread. Generally, these applications are likely to play a significant role in supporting education, in general, and medical education, in particular. This study aims at investigating how medical faculty members are using smartphones in medical education and practice, and how they perceive them as an educational tool at university level.

Methods: The researchers have distributed an online questionnaire - including three parts: a demographic part with five variables; a 15-item part of various applications of the smartphones; and a 14-item part measuring attitudes towards using these smartphones - among medical faculty members at two Palestinian universities.

Setting and participants: Medical faculty members working at two Palestinian universities. Data have been collected from 30 participants out of 72 representing a response rate of 41.6%.

Results: The average skills score with smartphones usage is (3.18) which tells that faculty members use smartphones to support their teaching practices. In general, faculty members are positive towards smartphones as a prospective teaching tool since the average attitude towards using smartphones is (3.60). The study results show no significant differences among faculty members based on the five demographic variables, i.e. university, title, department affiliation, gender, and years of experience.

Conclusion: It seems that the majority of faculty members believe that smartphones would be a significant instrument as well as addition to their teaching practices.

Keywords: Attitudes; Medical education; Medical faculty members; Perception; Smartphones; Teaching tool.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None has declared under financial, general, and institutional competing interests. I, Oqab Jabali the corresponding author, had full access to all study data, take fully responsibility for the accuracy of the data analysis, and have authority over manuscript preparation and decisions to submit the manuscript for publication.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Representations of faculty members’ frequency of contacting students with smartphones
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Representations of faculty members’ frequency of checking attendance with smartphones
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Representations of faculty members’ perceptions towards enhancing easier access to information
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Representations of faculty members’ perceptions towards increasing in-class participation and collaboration
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ahmad AK. Teacher-centered versus learner -centered teaching style. J Glob Bus Manag. 2013;9(1):22–34.
    1. Cochrane TD. Beyond the yellow brick road: smart web 2.0 informing a new institutional e-learning strategy. ALT-J. 2010;18(3):221–231. doi: 10.1080/09687769.2010.529110. - DOI
    1. Daggett WR. Preparing students for their future president. Int Center Leadersh Educ. 2005;4:1–13.
    1. Duckworth E. Helping students get to where ideas can find them. New Educator. 2009;5(3):185–188. doi: 10.1080/1547688X.2009.10399573. - DOI
    1. Echeverría Alejandro, Nussbaum Miguel, Calderón Juan Felipe, Bravo Claudio, Infante Cristián, Vásquez Andrea. Face-to-face collaborative learning supported by mobile phones. Interactive Learning Environments. 2011;19(4):351–363. doi: 10.1080/10494820903232943. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources