Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2016
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pedagogical utility of mobile devices and content-specific application software in the Anatomy and Physiology laboratory. Four core topics were examined: Tissues and Integument, Skeletal System, Muscle System, and the Heart. Five lab instructors were involved; each instructor taught one “experimental” lab section where students used mobile devices with histology and anatomy apps, and taught a second “control” lab section in which students used their lab manuals. The experimental students’ metacognitive responses were measured via exit surveys; the instructors were also surveyed and interviewed. Using a Likert-type scale we analyzed the student response, which indicated that overall the students reacted positively to the digital technology in the lab, felt that this modality was effective in motivating them to learn the subject matter, and considered the apps to be more effective as a learning tool than the lab manual.
Comments
This work was priginally published in HAPS Educator. It was supported by a City University of New York Community College Collaborative Incentive Research Grant (C3IRG-2015): “Assessing the Impact of Mobile Devices on Student Learning in the Anatomy Laboratory.”