Evaluating the effectiveness of mobile learning in nursing education

Technology-enhanced learning is a focus of educational development in HKMU. Its nursing programmes have long been using a range of mobile apps to enrich students' learning experience. To understand the effectiveness of the use of mobile apps, Dr Kam Cheong Li, Director overseeing research of the University, conducted a research study to evaluate the mobile learning practice in HKMU nursing programmes. This study, supported by the Research Grants Council's Faculty Development Scheme, contributed to filling the knowledge gap in understanding factors impacting the effectiveness of mobile learning in nursing education, and offered effective instruments for evaluation and use in such a context.

 

In particular, this study evaluated the effects on nursing students' learning motivation, mobile learning process, and study performance in relation to the use of mobile apps. The research team found the students' active use of mobile apps for reviewing learning materials and sharing learning resources among peers, and their improved study performance in terms of comprehension and application of nursing concepts. The students participated in the study gave positive feedback on the design of the mobile apps and the effectiveness of using the apps to facilitate their learning in various learning environments.

 

This study revealed how mobile learning can be effectively integrated into a conventional classroom setting following a blended education mode. This has helped to solve problems such as determining, in the case of course planning, what course content to deliver through the mobile setting and what to deliver through the classroom or another setting, and how the content could be presented in the mobile apps, so as to achieve a high level of learning effectiveness.

 

For further details, please refer to the following journal articles generated from the study:

‘Evaluation of mobile learning for the clinical practicum in nursing education: Application of the FRAME model’, Journal of Computing in Higher Education.

‘The effects of mobile learning for nursing students: An integrative evaluation of learning process, learning motivation, and study performance’, International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation.

‘Effects of mobile apps for nursing students: Learning motivation, social interaction and study performance’, Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning.