Christian Rogers

Developing an Adaptive Mobile Platform in Family Medicine Field Experiences: User Perceptions

EASEL (education through application-supported experiential learning) is a platform designed to provide just-in-time content and reflection opportunities to students during field experiences, such as interviews or field labs, conducted as part of the workload in a course. This study was conducted in area of family medicine education at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. EASEL allows instructors and students flexibility to engage with course content based on the time of day and the location of each student conducting field work by providing access to questions and content before, during, and after a targeted field experience. In this study, three cohorts of family medicine students (N = 20) interviewed either a health care professional or a patient. Students used EASEL to facilitate and support their experience in the field. This study examined the student perceptions of EASEL. The data indicated instructive information on the usability of the EASEL platform and aided developers in considering future technologies to use as a part of the platform.

Just Give Me a Hint! An Alternative Testing Approach for Simultaneous Assessment and Learning

The Millennial generation has grown up using computers as an essential part of their daily activities. Educators have successfully adapted formative assessments by incorporating Internet resources, gamification and pervasive technology to meet the needs of these students. However, summative assessments have changed very little. Point Barter is an online testing system that incorporates game-like features to equitably assist students in answering test questions. It allows students to dynamically trade test points for hints about the correct answer. This paper presents the results of a study that evaluated Point Barter with two sections of the same course. One section used Point Barter throughout a semester while the other used the standard testing system. Upon completion of the course, all participants took a standardized cumulative final exam. The experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group, indicating that using Point Barter throughout the semester may have led to increased learning.