Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Smartphones, mobile apps and social networking in medical education

Mark Bridge writes:

I wasn’t supposed to be at this year’s AMEE 2012 conference in Lyon. AMEE is the Association for Medical Education in Europe, which - as you can probably guess - has very little direct connection with the mobile phone industry. However, my wife was going because she works in medical education. Me?  I fancied a trip to France.

My plan was to hang around in the city during the day, drinking coffee and eating brioche aux pralines until my teeth started screaming. In the evening we’d meet at a small cafe and be mistaken for locals. In my dreams.

My biggest mistake was looking through the conference programme. There was a section on mobile learning, there were discussions about social networking… hang on, this was starting to sound interesting. My teeth breathed a sigh of relief.

Before I knew it, my short break had become a busman’s holiday.

Now, to put things in perspective, mobile technology isn’t currently a big part of the education progress. However, as this year’s AMEE programme demonstrated, it is becoming increasingly important.

Natalie Lafferty, the e-learning lead at the medical school at the University of Dundee, explained that mobile technology offered colleges and universities the advantage of being able to ‘push’ learning to students.

“You’ve got schools like Stanford who a couple of years ago decided to give all of their students an iPad, you’ve got Nancy in France who also have given all of their medical students an iPad, in the UK we have Leeds who gave their clinical students iPhones two years ago, Manchester this year have given iPads to their fourth year students and they're rolling it out further next year…”

As Natalie mentioned, the University of Leeds is seen as a pioneer when it comes to technology in medical education. Gareth Frith, the technology enhanced learning manager from the Leeds Institute of Medical Education, told me their iPhone scheme was still running - but was likely to be transformed into a ‘bring your own device’ programme in the near future.

“I think it will definitely be within the next two years. It looks as though 75% of our students have some kind of smartphone at the moment - and I think in a year’s time that will probably be enough Android and iPhone devices for us to make a commitment to provide content for the students’ phones rather than give them the phones.”

I asked Gareth what he thought the future held for mobile devices in medical education. His answer: voice recognition and voice transcription.

“Most doctors like to give feedback or write their notes by dictating”, he said. “The technology is very, very close to being excellent in that respect; another six months and another couple of software releases and I think we will see people doing that quite normally.”

Dr Nicole Koehler of Monash University in Australia revealed details of a study that had asked medical students about their attitudes towards medically-related mobile phone apps.

Over three-quarters of students owned a smartphone - and most of those students had already experienced applications with a medical focus. They were generally positive about using medically-related apps, although they didn’t see apps replacing textbooks.

I asked her whether students were concerned that using smartphones for study might be perceived as ‘playing with their phones’ by other people.

“They are issues that did turn up; for example, a patient might think they are using some sort of social media when they are actually looking up information. That indicates to us that students must make patients aware by saying ‘I just want to check this, I’m looking something up for you’. It’s an issue the students raised themselves.”

The full-length versions of my interviews are in this week’s special podcast feature, which also includes conversations about a couple of the applications that were discussed at AMEE. Dr Bridget Maher from the School of Medicine at University College Cork talked about a mobile app that helped students write better letters when their patients left hospital, while Supriya Krishnan from the e-Learning Unit at St George’s, University of London, talked about transforming teaching materials from paper-based learning to online interactive Virtual Patients and now to mobile apps.

You can listen to the full podcast on this website, by downloading the mp3 file or by picking it up from iTunes. It’s also possible to subscribe to all our weekly podcasts via RSS and iTunes or by using the Stitcher mobile app.

Discover the latest mobile industry news stories as they happen by following us on Twitter or on our Facebook page. Alternatively, please sign up for our free weekly newsletter using the Register link in the top right-hand corner of our website.
Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
4.0

Categories: Applications, OpinionNumber of views: 38955

Tags: opinion applications health education

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Opinion Articles

‘The Eyes Have It’ at Mobile World Congress

James Rosewell writes:

DoCoMo are one of many network operators and handset manufacturers demonstrating innovative new products as Mobile World Congress. Our eye was caught by the employee demonstrating “Eye Controlled Earphones”. It’s a good job the ladies from the CBOSS stand weren’t walking past at the time.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

'Mobile Money Monday' at Mobile World Congress

James Rosewell writes:

Monday’s Mobile World Congress conference agenda dedicated one of 4 streams to Mobile Money - Transfers, Transactions and Technology allowing all stakeholders to share experiences and debate the future of Mobile and Money.

Two types of service dominated presentations and panel discussions; Near Field Communication (NFC) technology enabling payment at traditional Point of Sale (PoS), and the Mobile Wallet replacing plastic or cash.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

‘Innovation Corner’ at Mobile World Congress

James Rosewell writes:

Here’s my pick of the 3 most innovative companies I’ve uncovered at the 2010 Mobile World Congress.

Cootek.com win the prize for simplest innovation... an accurate touch screen keyboard. They’re a few months away from being ready to release the software to handset manufacturers, but the demo handsets worked very well. The keyboard assumes the user is not going to press the intended key, but in fact might miss and press another key in the same area. Based on this knowledge and an extensive dictionary of words and language context, it’s able to determine the intended word with surprising accuracy. I sincerely hope their technology will be made available for the Nexus One in the not too distant future.

Author: The Fonecast
1 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Google “Mobile First” from Eric Schmidt’s Key Note at Mobile World Congress

James Rosewell writes:

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, presented a compelling vision of a mobile centric future. The phone has become the “high value end point” for Google services enabled by a combination of increasing handset power, mobile data networks and cloud computing. By far the scarcest resource is the bandwidth available through the mobile data networks. Google appear committed to work with Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to maximise bandwidth usage, although several audience questions suggested scepticism from the main stream mobile industry. Eric expressed a need to maintain a harmonious relationship with MNOs stating Google could not operate its service on mobile devices without their co-operation.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

The great Windows Mobile 7 conspiracy theory

Mark Bridge writes:

I like a good conspiracy theory. A good one, mind you. None of this “Funny thing happened on the way to Mars” nonsense. Oh no, not me. And, despite occasionally mirroring Jerry Fletcher by balancing a bottle on the door handle, I’ve never been inclined to publish such a theory. Until now.

You see, it’s Mobile World Congress in a fortnight’s time. Which is when the great and the good of the mobile industry – along with their mates and hangers-on – head for Barcelona. Microsoft will be there. They’re holding a press briefing on Monday afternoon. And there’s a lot of talk about Windows Mobile 7 being (unofficially) on the agenda. But where’s the evidence?

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First100101102103105107108109Last

Recent Podcasts

Reviewing our 2015 mobile industry predictions... and looking forward to 2016

Podcast - 15th January 2016

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Podcast - 6th March 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Looking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

Podcast - 27th February 2015

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Interview with Chris Millington of Doro about mobile retailing, wearables and technology for older consumers

Podcast - 24th February 2015

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

Podcast - 30th January 2015

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
12345678910Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«March 2025»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
242526272812
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31123456

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement