The document proposes a mobile app to provide oral hygiene instructions to dental patients in English and Spanish. The app would use behaviorist and constructivist learning theories. It would have 3 instruction segments - written/verbal, video demonstration, and use of the front camera for interactive demonstration. The goals are to empower patients and make instructions more accessible. It addresses potential pitfalls like information overload, device limitations, and ensuring accurate translations.

1. Oral Hygiene Instructions
Learning Activity
Jose Castillo
Midterm Project
Intro to Mobile Phone
Learning
Spring 2013

2. Background/Rationale
• Subject area:
– Dental/oral hygiene instructions
• Rationale:
– High prevalence of dental patients
that have previously received
little/none oral hygiene instructions
• Target audience
– Dental patients
– Dental students
– Dentists

3. Theory
• Behaviorist theory
– Learning as a change in learners’
observable actions
• Constructivist theory
– Learner constructs new ideas from
previous and current knowledge
• Informal and lifelong theory
– Learning occurs outside dedicated
learning environment

4. Advantages/Features
• Available as needed
– On the go
– Patient’s home
– Dental office
• Available in English and Spanish
• Learning activity integrated

5. Proposed Activity
• Tap on “Start oral hygiene
instructions” button
• 3 segments of information
1st: Verbal/written OHI
2nd: Video OHI
3rd: Front camera feature/split screen
• Prompts to consult dentist

6. 1 segment example:
st
Verbal/written
Place toothbrush at a 45o
towards the gums and brush
in a circular motion.

7. 2 segment example:
nd
Video

8. 3rd segment example
Front camera Video loop (from 2 nd
segment)

9. Goals for Activity
Creation of a mobile app that:
•Imparts oral hygiene instructions
(OHI) in English and Spanish
•Empower dental patient
•Economic and flexibility impact

10. Learning Objectives
• Introduce audio-visual instructions
(Lees et al, 2000)
• Introduce instructions in
English/Spanish (Newport, 1990)
• Introduce flashcards (Edge et al, 2011 and
Sharples et al, 2005)
• Introduce front camera and
optional split-screen features
(Edge et al, 2011)

11. Potential
Pitfalls/Assumptions
• Information overload
– To overcome: 3 segments and 5 short dental
facts (Ahmad and Orton, 2009)
• Not available in all mobile platforms
– To overcome: make available via web
browser (future product dvlpt)
• Front camera feature not available
• Small screen in certain
devices
– To overcome: make
split-camera feature optional

12. Potential
Pitfalls/Assumptions
• Intended for too many settings
– To overcome: create more setting-
specific version (future product dvlpt)
• Translation will be accurate
– To overcome: product to be reviewed
by 3 dentists who are native in English
and Spanish
• Target audience too broad
– To overcome: make app more age-
specific (future product dvlpt)

13. References
• Ahmand, Nabeel. IBM Mobile Bluepages Study. IBM
Center for Advanced Learning. Pg 1-26.
• Ahmad, Nabeel and Peter Orton. Smartphones Make
IBM Smarter, But Not As Expected, T +D. pg 46-49. Jan
2010.
• Edge, Darren et al. MicoMandarin: Mobile Language
Learning in Context. CHI, 2011.
• Lees, Adele. A Comparison Between Written, Verbal,
and Videotape Oral Hygiene Instruction for Patients with
Fixed Appliances. Journal of Orthodontics. 27.Pg 323-
327. 2000.
• Lonsdale et al, Literature Review in Mobile Technologies
and Learning.
• Sharples, Mike et al. Towards a Theory of Mobile
Learning. 2005