South African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-Learning
The global COVID-19 pandemic has added considerable complexity to the education and training of health care professionals as well as patient care. Literature suggests that e-Learning and mobile health (mHealth) technologies have great potential, but research studies are sparse, especially in low- to...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2023
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| _version_ | 1797111337344565248 |
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| author | Noorbhai, H Sims, DA Hartman, N |
| author_facet | Noorbhai, H Sims, DA Hartman, N |
| author_sort | Noorbhai, H |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The global COVID-19 pandemic has added considerable complexity to the education and training of health care professionals as well as patient care. Literature suggests that e-Learning and mobile health (mHealth) technologies have great potential, but research studies are sparse, especially in low- to middle-income countries. The paper presents South African health science students’ perceptions of the importance, relevance, constraints and future possibilities of e-Learning and mHealth. Students from five universities participated in a modified Delphi. The first phase of student focus groups and interviews (n = 5), established baseline experiences and perceptions of e-Learning and mHealth during and post-COVID-19. These findings informed the design of an online survey (n = 155) for the second phase of the study. The majority of students were familiar with e-Learning, less so with mHealth; however most believed both to be a beneficial complement to theoretical and clinical teaching. Reasons for an integrated Learning Management System (LMS), also known as virtual learning environments, include increased flexibility, access and enhanced learning; and issues of anxiety, reduced interactivity, an absence of context and a lack of discipline- or profession-specific features as reasons against. The perceived importance of particular features of e-Learning and mHealth tools were highlighted. These findings will contribute to the redesign of online work-integrated curricula and the development of an inclusive, student-centred, health sciences-specific integrated and multi-modal LMS directed towards student-centred learning while addressing concerns around the digital divide and social justice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:07:22Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:f68976eb-e869-428e-a672-ed8faa360dca |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:07:22Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:f68976eb-e869-428e-a672-ed8faa360dca2023-11-07T12:45:57ZSouth African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-LearningJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f68976eb-e869-428e-a672-ed8faa360dcaEnglishSymplectic ElementsSpringer Nature2023Noorbhai, HSims, DAHartman, NThe global COVID-19 pandemic has added considerable complexity to the education and training of health care professionals as well as patient care. Literature suggests that e-Learning and mobile health (mHealth) technologies have great potential, but research studies are sparse, especially in low- to middle-income countries. The paper presents South African health science students’ perceptions of the importance, relevance, constraints and future possibilities of e-Learning and mHealth. Students from five universities participated in a modified Delphi. The first phase of student focus groups and interviews (n = 5), established baseline experiences and perceptions of e-Learning and mHealth during and post-COVID-19. These findings informed the design of an online survey (n = 155) for the second phase of the study. The majority of students were familiar with e-Learning, less so with mHealth; however most believed both to be a beneficial complement to theoretical and clinical teaching. Reasons for an integrated Learning Management System (LMS), also known as virtual learning environments, include increased flexibility, access and enhanced learning; and issues of anxiety, reduced interactivity, an absence of context and a lack of discipline- or profession-specific features as reasons against. The perceived importance of particular features of e-Learning and mHealth tools were highlighted. These findings will contribute to the redesign of online work-integrated curricula and the development of an inclusive, student-centred, health sciences-specific integrated and multi-modal LMS directed towards student-centred learning while addressing concerns around the digital divide and social justice. |
| spellingShingle | Noorbhai, H Sims, DA Hartman, N South African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-Learning |
| title | South African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-Learning |
| title_full | South African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-Learning |
| title_fullStr | South African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-Learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | South African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-Learning |
| title_short | South African health sciences students’ perspectives on utilisation, constraints and future possibilities of mHealth and e-Learning |
| title_sort | south african health sciences students perspectives on utilisation constraints and future possibilities of mhealth and e learning |
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