Nursing Education and Digital Technology to Promote Learning in the Connected Classroom Use of Mobile Devices for Connected Classroom
Digital Technology to Promote Learning in the Connected Classroom In Nursing Education, Mobile Devices for Connected Classroom In Nursing Education, Requiring Student Use of Mobile Devices In Nursing Education for Connected Classroom, Nursing Software for Mobile Devices Nursing Education.
Digital Technology to Promote Learning in the Connected Classroom In Nursing Education
There are a variety of digital learning technologies available for use in the connected classroom. These include mobile devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as presentation software, ARSs, e-books, podcasts, and wikis.
When considering the use of any of these technologies, faculty must consider the intention for its use. Technologies work best when they are used with purpose and not just for novelty.
Mobile Devices for Connected Classroom In Nursing Education
Mobile devices include laptop computers, smartphones, and tablets. The common feature of these devices is they can connect to the Internet and offer the ability to add third-party software applications.
The advent of computers that are easily portable gives students’ direct connections to resources, the faculty, and their classmates, and also provide students an opportunity to learn to use these tools as they will use them in nursing practice. A smartphone is a mobile computer with telephone capability. Key features include a 4- to 5-inch diagonal touch screen and connection to the Internet.
Some phones now have screens larger than 5 inches that approach the size of tablets. These large phones have been given the nickname “phablets” as a portmanteau of the words phone and tablet. Most smartphones also include a web browser, a camera, and GPS capability. Another key difference between desktop and laptop computers is the dependence on wireless communication.
Smartphones use Wi-Fi or cellular phone data services to connect to the Internet. They also have Bluetooth capability to communicate with nearby devices such as printers, keyboards, or even health assessment tools such as a Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuff.
The reason smartphones are considered computers is that individual programs called applications (“apps”) can be loaded and run by the user. In the same way as using a desktop computer, users can add and subtract applications (“apps”). Management of these functions requires an operating system.
The operating system for nearly all smartphones is either Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android, with a small percentage using Windows Phone OS. Most commercial health care and nursing education software is sold with iOS and Android versions but not Windows Phone OS. Tablet computers became more popular with the advent of Apple’s iPad. Tablets share the portability of a smartphone but with a larger screen.
They have computing power closer to a laptop but without the physical keyboard. All tablets come with Wi-Fi receivers for Internet connections. Some tablets are available with cellular data receivers that allow access to the Internet wherever there is cellular phone service, but these services require a monthly fee.
Most tablets use either the Apple iOS or a variant of the Google Android operating system. Applications are often rewritten from smartphone apps to make best use of the larger screen. The larger screen means the display of electronic books and documents is easier to read than on a smartphone, and more closely resembles the experience of reading a paper book.
Requiring Student Use of Mobile Devices In Nursing Education for Connected Classroom
Some nursing programs require students to own a smartphone or tablet computer. The process for deciding to require the use of a mobile device is not unlike choosing a required or optional textbook. Faculty will need to evaluate what is available, the cost for hardware and software, how the device will be used in the connected classroom and clinical experience, and how support issues will be handled (Doyle, Garrett, & Currie, 2014).
Because many students have already purchased a mobile computing device, choosing one particular brand could be a problem for students who have already invested in a competing brand. Fortunately, most reference titles are available in both Apple iOS and Google Android formats. There are several issues to consider when instituted a mobile device requirement for students.
These can include cost, faculty and student lack of familiarity with the technology and its capabilities, or an unwillingness to change teaching and learning methods. These issues need to be addressed before adopting a requirement for use of mobile devices.
Cost for students has become less of an issue as nearly all students now own a mobile device of some type. However, cost can be an issue if faculty are expected to use these devices themselves, and it will be necessary to plan how faculty will obtain and use these devices; A consultant or campus technology expert may be helpful during the planning process.
When deciding to require the use of digital devices, faculty must consider how to provide training for faculty and students when they are first used (George, Davidson, Serapiglia, Barla, & Thotakura, (2010); Swan et al., 2013).
Swan and colleagues (2013) found that students particularly liked using tablets for note taking and managing course calendars, but found that reading textbooks on the device was fatiguing. Overall, students were satisfied with tablets as a supplementary tool for their learning.
Nursing Software for Mobile Devices Nursing Education
There is increasing availability of software for nurses and nursing students. When considering purchase of software, faculty should be aware that smartphones and tablets have no optical disk drives; Therefore, all software must be installed wirelessly. Applications for the Apple iOS family of devices can be managed through iTunes on the device or on a desktop computer.
Android software can be purchased through the Google Play store and other online stores such as Amazon. Many applications are free or very low cost. Some apps are free but require in-app purchase of features. Most of the reference titles are purchased via a free “bookshelf” app that manages the purchase and installation of textbooks.
Apps such as the Skyscape Reader or Unbound Medicine’s Nursing Central may provide free references and tools, and are available for the Apple iOS and Android operating systems. The electronic versions of the reference books are then purchased separately. Some companies, such as Pepid , also sell bundled or integrated apps that include multiple titles that are purchased through subscription.