This presentation, for the EFQUEL EIFLINQ2014 Conference in Crete, discusses the University of Leicester School of Medicine programme of giving first-year students an iPad, and the ongoing evaluation of how students use the iPads in learning. By Mark Hamilton, Grainne Conole, and Terese Bird

1. www.le.ac.uk
Evaluating the use of iPads with
first-year Medics
EIF/LINQ 2014
Crete
Mark Hamilton, Gráinne Conole, and Terese Bird
School of Medicine and
Institute of Learning Innovation
University of Leicester

2. Mobile devices:
For consumers, for education
PDA
1998
Mobile
phone
2000
Mp3
player
2001
Netbook
2007
E-reader
2010
Tablet
2011
Consumer mobile devices and the year they
‘caught on’ in public use:
Key dates for mobile learning:
• 2004 – Duke University issues iPods to all incoming freshmen –
recorded lectures are the main use
• 2007 – iTunes U is launched
• 2010 – Cedars School of Excellence, Scotland, becomes world’s 1st
one iPad-per-student school

3. What is mobile learning?
• “E-learning that uses mobile devices” (Pinkwart, et
al, 2003)
• “Learner freely moving in his physical (and virtual)
environment” (Laouris and Eteokleous, 2005)
Courtesy of
Battle Apps
http://www.civilwar.org/ed
ucation/teachers/wshs---
jim-percoco/battle-apps-
in-action.html

4. iPads for Medical Students
• Began autumn 2013
• Full-size iPad given to every first year
• Will repeat next 2 years
• Workbooks no longer printed; instead, PDFs on LMS
• Told students to buy Notability (PDF annotation app)
• Told students to bring iPads to all class sessions
• 2 Surveys: beginning and end of autumn term

5. Survey beginning of term
It was easy to initially
set up the iPad
Strongly
agree 67.4%
Agree 28.9%
Neither
agree nor
disagree
3.6%
Column1
Strongly
agree
55.4%
Agree
37.3%
Neither
agree nor
disagree
7.2%
It was easy to download
material from Blackboard
LMS to the iPad

6. Survey beginning of term
Overall, I am satisfied with using the iPad to enhance
my learning in this course.
Column1
Strongly agree
40%
Agree 42.2%
Neither agree nor
disagree 7.2%
Disagree 8.4%
Strongly disagree
1.2%
Unanswered 1.2%

7. Beginning of term comments
• “It’s quite difficult to manipulate several documents...
Constantly having to close one thing to open another and
then back again.”
• “Annotating on the iPad is less active than having to take
down notes from lectures meaning I have to revise the
content a little more as not much sticks in my head.”
• “Very good. I have a lot of textbooks as PDFs which I find
easy to use and useful to have whenever I need them. I
find that annotating lectures on the iPad is much quicker
and neater than if I was trying to write notes.”
• “I find the iPad really benefits my learning.”

8. Comparison of survey 1 and survey 2
I am satisfied with the learning experience of reading
the assigned material on the iPad
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Survey 1
Survey 2

9. Comparison of survey 1 and survey 2
I am satisfied with Notability as a way to read and
annotate the learning material
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Survey 1
Survey 2

10. End of term comments
• “At first I was a little apprehensive as I was used to paper
format. However once I started using the iPad I had
adjusted to the style of learning.... I now find it easy to use
a combination of the iPad and written notes... The iPad is
extremely useful when trying to access specific material. It
also saves carrying lots of documents!”
• “I have found that I am more likely to do spontaneous
revision by having all my work so readily accessible on the
iPad.”
• “I think the iPads have been a good way to learn. It makes
studying possible in more locations.”

11. Findings
• Introducing iPads has been generally successful
– Replaced paper
– Achieved with almost no IT support
– High student satisfaction
• Student-led innovation
– Mindmaps
– Drawing
– Airdrop

12. What’s next?
• Interactive ebooks
– Video
– Audio
– Quizzes
– Offline viewing
– Annotate-able
• Catalyst for staff innovation
– Webinar tutorials
– Interactive lectures

13. Thank you!
References
• Laouris, Y. and N. Eteokleous (2005). We need an
educationally relevant definition of mobile learning.
mLearning, South Africa.
• Pinkwart, N., H. U. Hoppe, et al (2003). “Educational
scenarios for the cooperative use of Personal Digital
Assistants.” Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
19(3): 383-391.