Mobile learning at the University of Leeds School of Medicine provides medical students with iPhones loaded with medical apps and assessment tools to support their clinical placements. Over 10,000 pieces of formative feedback were recorded by students from clinicians in one academic year. Students complete workplace-based assessments using the mobile apps. The mobile learning program enhances learning and assessment, helps students become better doctors, and supports life-long learning through the use of an e-portfolio. Both students and clinicians see benefits from the mobile learning, including improved engagement and opportunities for learning.

1. School of Medicine Technology Enhanced Learning
University of Leeds
Innovation in Placement Assessment
The Leeds Experience
Gareth Frith
Technology Enhanced Learning Manager, School of Medicine
g.s.frith@leeds.ac.uk
December 2014

2. Innovation in mobile learning for
Medical undergraduates
Leeds Institute of Medical Education
University of Leeds

3. ALPS - CETL
A Centre of Excellence for Teaching and
Learning
2005 to 2011 funded by HEFCE
5 Universities in West Yorkshire and 16
Healthcare professions
Skill and competencies for Healthcare in Practice
Mobile Devices for recording competencies
Our History with Mobile learning
www.alps-cetl.ac.uk

4. Undergraduate Medicine in Leeds - MBChB
Five or six year course
260 students per year
New Curriculum launched in 2010
Students are learning in hospitals, clinics and the
community
Work based practice crucial to success
New clinical placements:
• Year 1 & 2 – Primary & Secondary Care
• Year 3 – Elderly Medicine & Special Senses (2012)
• Year 4 – Acute & Critical Care; Cancer & long term care
• Year 5 – Assistantships and transitions to practice
Mobile Learning supports learning and assessment

5. Why Mobile MBChB?
Where are our students coming from (educationally, technologically,
culturally)?
What might they look like (and be doing as doctors in 2015-2020?)
What are doctors using mobile for at present?
• Apps
• iPads
• Hard wired

6. Why Mobile Learning?
Helping Students become better doctors
Support of MBChB Students in practice
Near patient experience
Access to medical information
Assessments undertaken with practice professionals
Reflection, evidence and assessment outcomes recorded and
sent to an e-portfolio

7. Mobile Learning Delivery
Curriculum review 2007-2010 provided golden
opportunity
Key to success was that MBChB mobile
activities were embedded
• Integrated across different strands of the
programme
• Central platform
• Replace rather than ‘bolt on’
• Teaching, learning & assessment
Students at the heart of road testing and
innovating

8. Mobile Learning Delivery
Provide access to published medical content
from practice
Provide a number of assessments that can
be completed as self assessment or with
practice professional
Provide a method of recording assessment
outcomes and publishing them through the
e-portfolio for CPD and Lifelong Learning

9. Solution
Each Year 4 and Year 5 medical student is loaned
an iPhone 5 which they can use as their device
(260 each year)
Medical Content such as the Oxford Handbooks
(standard Medical texts) and the BNF
(prescribing manual).
Applications for assessment of students
O2 3G Network with unlimited broadband and
voice and txt

10. Dr Companion
BNF
Oxford Handbook titles
Delivered by Medhand
Other apps
RRAPID
OSCE Toolkit
Instant ECG
Medscape
Medical Content

11. Apps for Assessment and
Learning

12. Reflection Tools
Reflection and recording of evidence
through progress file.
Publishing to e-portfolio (private and
public)
either Assessment for Learning
(formative) or Assessment for
Progression (summative)
Delivered by MyKnowledgeMap

13. Feedback

14. Assessment Tools
Based on the ALPS assessment suite
of inter-professional assessments
Others which prepare for postgraduate
medicine such as:
miniCEX - mini Clinical examination
Work Place Based Assessment

15. 10,655
Number of items of formative feedback recorded by students from
clinical and healthcare professionals in academic year 2013 / 2014

16. 10,655
276 year 5 students completed 3514 MiniCEX assessments
269Year 4 students completed 7141 Workplace Based
Assessments

17. Assessment Tools
Learning Suite application (lecturers can
build their own assessment questions)

18. The e-portfolio - The progress file
Space for reflection
Space for recording evidence
Space for publishing assessment outcomes
preparing for Life Long Learning
developing skills for CPD
key tool for Mobile learning
Mapping to Tomorrows Doctors

19. Some Outcomes

20. Students Views

21. GP Clinical Teacher
MiniCEX
“I think we always did give feedback, but actually this just
formalises it and makes you do it really, and makes the
student really ask for specific feedback, so I think that’s really
good, and it makes it timely because you are doing it you
know at the end of, shortly after seeing the patient (GP
clinical teacher)

22. F2 doctor - non Leeds Graduate“And I also think from a foundation point of view for the future portfolio, well the portfolio I do at the moment, the more exposure you get earlier on as a student, it makes it easier for you to understand what an e-portfolio is, and makes your own portfolio better. Because when I started my foundation year we hadn’t done any electronic evidence, it was quite an adjustment to make.” (F2 Doctor – non-Leeds graduate)
E-Portfolio
“And I also think from a foundation point of view for the future
portfolio, well the portfolio I do at the moment, the more exposure
you get earlier on as a student, it makes it easier for you to
understand what an e-portfolio is, and makes your own portfolio
better. Because when I started my foundation year we hadn’t done
any electronic evidence, it was quite an adjustment to make.” (F2
Doctor – non-Leeds graduate)

23. F2 Doctor - Graduated 2011“And I also think from a foundation point of view for the future portfolio, well the portfolio I do at the moment, the more exposure you get earlier on as a student, it makes it easier for you to understand what an e-portfolio is, and makes your own portfolio better. Because when I started my foundation year we hadn’t done any electronic evidence, it was quite an adjustment to make.” (F2 Doctor – non-Leeds graduate)
Mobile Learning
“It’s definitely changed the way that I use my mobile now and
use technology now to learn, to have like ongoing learning
whilst working, and I think sort of that the resources are
endless which is what I quite like, and there are still things
that are out there which I know would help me in my career
that I haven’t found yet or downloaded yet, so it’s quite good
to know that I have this sort of endless resource out there to
use.”

24. What did the students think?
On Dr Companion:
It’s like learning to drive, you wonder how you coped before you could
drive. I mean I’ve been onto placement and I remember specifically a
day when I forgot my phone, and I felt like I was without an arm, not
because I couldn’t text but because I didn’t have my Dr Companion app
or something that I could just pick up. You forget how reliant actually
you do become on them.
Year 5 student

25. ROTATION 1 ROTATION 2

26. Total number and average No. of WBA completed per
student on mobile devices within rotation 2012 / 2013
The average number of WBAs recorded in the progress file between rotation dates
Colours show student cohort (i.e. Group A – E)
1 2 3 4 5
N Av N Av N Av N Av N Av
ACC 286 5.4 284 5.3 282 5.4 288 5.3 264 4.8
CCC 297 5.5 295 5.7 286 5.3 257 4.7 287 5.3
GOSH 224 4.1 288 5.4 290 5.4 294 5.7 296 5.5
Paeds 327 6.1 293 5.4 285 5.3 279 5.2 303 5.6
Psych 281 5.2 293 5.4 254 4.7 291 5.4 279 5.2

27. Success - Programme View
Programme
• Enhancing our assessment for learning + profiling
• Encouraging open book / ‘look up, practice and record’
• Which clinical staff are assessing – and what is feedback
like?
Students & Unexpected developments
• Value of near patient encounters and feedback/supervision
• Breaking down barriers with others
• Remote usage - revision and preparation

28. Success - Clinical view
Enhancing clinical practice learning (cf. postgrad)
• More engaged students
• ‘Upping the stakes’ of a clinical encounter
• Value of seeing positive feedback loops
Opportunistic
• Students increasing self select – ‘Can I do’
• Better use of everyday material
Resources
• We use them as much as the students!

29. Clinical Skills ebook

30. Mobile Learning
anytime, anywhere, anyplace

31. Questions?