Evaluating Students’ attitudes and usage e of mobile in educational activities at Paramedical Sciences School

Abstract

Introduction: Mobile learning is a new way of modern teaching method and a subset of e-learning that refers to a change in thinking about the design and planning of learning goals and environments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitude of students of the Medical Sciences School toward the mobile phone in educational activities and its usage.

Methods: 150 students of Mashhad School of Paramedical Sciences were investigated in this cross-sectional study in 2019-20, using a researcher-made questionnaire including three sections on student demographic information, mobile applications in education, and student attitude toward mobile phone use in educational activities. The questionnaire`s validity was obtained according to 7 experts' opinions in the field of education, and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha of 0.794. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS 16 software.

Result: From the investigation of 150 students of Mashhad Paramedical Sciences opinions in six educational groups indicated that students of health information technology, laboratory science, physiotherapy, ophthalmology, radiology, speech therapy, medical records, mostly used mobile phones for their educational activities respectively. The most common use of students' mobile phones at university was the use of the Internet and social networks, taking photos and videos, and the most common use in teaching activities was reading files, viewing scores, recording audio and selecting units. From the students' perspective, using mobile phones in educational activities leads to getting higher scores, doing activities faster, make better communication between teacher and student, and speeded up the learning feedback.

Conclusion: According to the results, we suggest encouraging teachers to use mobile phones in academic activities and running workshops to increase the awareness of mobile capabilities. Also educational planners, and mobile based learning programs should design educational software to promote the correct culture of mobile use in educational activities.