John Sandars

Web 2.0 and social software: the medical student way of e-learning

Background: A wide range of social software has become readily available to young people. There is increasing interest in the exciting possibilities of using social software for undergraduate medical education. Aims: To identify the nature and extent of the use of social software by first year medical students. Method: A structured self-administered questionnaire survey of 212 students. Results: Over 90 percent used instant messaging and social networking sites were highly used (70 percent). There was no significant difference between males and females. Blogs were read by about a fifth of students and a small number (8%) wrote their own blogs. A fifth of males stated that they were users of media sharing and contributed to wikis. Social bookmarking was rarely used by either sex. Conclusion: Medical educators need to recognise the potential of social software in undergraduate medical education but it is essential that students maintain the informality and privacy of these sites. The challenge for all medical educators is how to integrate social software into current curricula and institutional Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs).

Quantitative and qualitative methods in medical education research: AMEE Guide No 90: Part II

Abstract Medical educators need to understand and conduct medical education research in order to make informed decisions based on the best evidence, rather than rely on their own hunches. The purpose of this Guide is to provide medical educators, especially those who are new to medical education research, with a basic understanding of how quantitative and qualitative methods contribute to the medical education evidence base through their different inquiry approaches and also how to select the most appropriate inquiry approach to answer their research questions.

E-learning: the essential usability perspective

Background:u2002 Usability is the ease with which something can be used, but this essential concept appears to be rarely considered when using technology for teaching and learning in medical education.

Developmental student support in undergraduate medical education: AMEE Guide No. 92

Abstract Developmental student support has a focus on developing the whole person, not only academic and clinical competence. The positive and proactive developmental approach is in marked contrast to the deficit and reactive approach to student support which only targets identified students who are considered to be “at risk”. The medical school is a nexus for personal development, combining the personal identity formation journey of early adulthood with the variety of new experiences in medical school. Important aspects of developmental student support are the development of resilience and ensuring reasonable adjustments for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. Careers guidance is an essential aspect of developmental student support, including students with doubts about a career in medicine and who are leaving because of poor performance. Developmental student support requires an organizational culture in which student support is considered as the responsibility of everyone, with further support from named personal tutors.

Clinical diagnostic decision-making in real life contexts: A trans-theoretical approach for teaching: AMEE Guide No. 95

Abstract Making an accurate clinical diagnosis is an essential skill for all medical students and doctors, with important implications for patient safety. Current approaches for teaching how to make a clinical diagnosis tend to lack the complexity that faces clinicians in real-life contexts. In this Guide, we propose a new trans-theoretical model for teaching how to make an appropriate clinical diagnosis that can be used by teachers as an additional technique to their current approach. This educational model integrates situativity theory, dual-information processing theory and socio-cognitive theory. Mapping and microanalysis help the teacher to identify the main processes involved in making an accurate clinical diagnosis, so that feedback can be provided that is focused on improving key aspects of the skill. An essential aspect of using the new educational model is the role of the experienced clinical teacher in making judgments about the appropriateness of the learner’s attempts to make a clinical diagnosis.

The struggling student: a thematic analysis from the self-regulated learning perspective.

Students who engage in self‐regulated learning (SRL) are more likely to achieve academic success compared with students who have deficits in SRL and tend to struggle with academic performance. Understanding how poor SRL affects the response to failure at assessment will inform the development of better remediation.

Pause 2 Learn: developing self-regulated learning.

• Visual learners draw maps, sketches and diagrams in the classroom; use images projected in lectures and diagrams in books to help them conceptualise facts better, and ask teaching staff to illustrate topics on which they require clarification. • Auditory learners like to hear loud spoken words and descriptions of themes; read aloud when they study alone, and ask questions in seminars. • Read–write learners like to write down what they have seen and prefer to read their own handwriting; read ‘in their minds’ what is spoken, drawn or shown; read written material in the form of circulated notes and textbooks, and take down important points that are verbalised in the classroom. • Kinaesthetic learners like to see video presentations in lectures; enjoy live demonstrations of cases and role-plays in applied physiology, and like to perform actions with their hands to help them understand the learning materials.

Podcasting for Undergraduate Healthcare Education

In this era of rapid technological advancement it is not surprising that education is changing and evolving along with the wider use of new technology by the general public. Podcasting has become one of the major emergent technological trends and was chosen by the New Oxford American Dictionary in 2005 as the Word of the Year. A search of Google for the word ‘podcasting’ revealed over 56 300 000 hits on the day of writing this review. Podcasting is rapidly becoming an established phenomenon and it has also now started to be used in healthcare education. We outline in this article the nature of podcasting and describe the results of a review of the published literature to identify how podcasting was being used for undergraduate healthcare education. We have chosen this particular group of learners since we were impressed by the high use of podcasting by first year medical students. Our recent survey of 86 students at the University of Leeds identified that at least 60% downloaded podcasts weekly and that 21% had a regular subscription to a podcast provider. We were interested in identifying the potential use of podcasting for undergraduate healthcare education and also identifying areas for further research and development.

Using mobile devices for teaching and learning in clinical medicine

The learning landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade and is undergoing a further seismic shift with the ubiquity of mobile internet-connected devices. Smartphones and tablets can now provide access to an almost unlimited amount of information that is accessible anytime and anyplace. Mobile devices have become commonplace for learning (and perhaps even the norm) in the classroom, higher education and the workplace. Early evaluation data from such projects have revealed heterogeneity in the adoption and acceptance of these devices among users. Whilst many see the undoubted benefits, issues including digital literacy and the need to integrate new ways of learning can be a barrier to uptake. With the increasing availability of highly intuitive devices and a generation of learners that access, and indeed process, information in a completely different way than the generations that preceded them, the issue is not whether we adopt these new technologies but whether we make the most of the opportunities they provide.nnThe paediatric setting is a complex and demanding clinical learning environment. The provision of ready access to learning can be thought of in terms of supporting both explicit and tacit knowledge requirements. Clinicians are expected to apply the highest standards of practice according to local and national guidelines. Achieving this draws on their explicit knowledge, sourced from traditional references, a process that can, and will, be facilitated by connectivity. Perhaps for the first time patients, parents and relatives have almost unfettered access to the same resources and have consequently higher or differing expectations of patient care. In addition, it could be argued that the public are no longer willing to unquestioningly accept the opinion of a clinician. The instant access to high-quality reference resources will be crucial to doctors both for their own learning and their clinical practice. Doctors are also …

Medical students and their blogs.

Blogs have become an important part of life for many young people in their late teens or early twenties (Oblinger & Oblinger 2005). We were aware from our personal experience that some medical students were also active bloggers and we were curious as to how they were using this new technology. We performed a content analysis of a sample of 113 separate public blogs written by current medical students across the world that were identified using several major blog search engines (Technorati, Google blog search, Blogpulse and Bloghub). The majority of blogs (110 97%) were written by one author and 48% were female and 43% male. Most authors were from the USA, Canada and the UK. 71 (63%) of blogs were updated at least five times a month. Blogs were mainly used as personal journals that recorded the authors’ thoughts and experiences. Three students used a blog to record their elective experiences. Only 15 (13%) had no links to other blogs. Fourteen authors were international students studying in another country. The majority (77%) were male, they frequently updated their blogs and their links were often directed to similar international students. Blogs appear to offer important benefits to the lives of medical students and we suggest that informal blogging should be encouraged by medical educators. The time as a medical student is an important transition during which young people develop both a personal and professional identity (Niemi 1997). An essential aspect of this process is the opportunity for public self-expression and this may appear as disjointed ‘rant and rave’ (Wynn & Katz 1997). Blogs also allow the development of social networks which are required for psychological well being and future academic and professional success (Cross et al. 2001). These supportive peer networks are particularly important for international students often find the integration to study in another country stressful (Mallinckrodt & Leong 1992). We recommend further research into this emerging aspect of undergraduate medical education.