APPROPRIATE MOBILE DEVICES FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA'S FACULTY OF MEDICINE

Abstract

Background: The use of personal mobile devices for teaching and learning is gaining recognition in medical education and healthcare delivery. However, research on mobile device use and its implementation tends to focus on technical aspects, sometimes overlooking the sociotechnical aspects of mobile devices.

Objective: This study used the actor–network theory (ANT) as a lens to explore what constitutes ‘appropriate’ mobile devices and their roles in the teaching and learning of medicine and healthcare delivery.

Methods: This study adopted an interpretive approach and collected qualitative data from 27 purposively sampled key informants. Data were analysed using grounded theory techniques of open, axial and selective coding.

Results: The findings suggest that an appropriate mobile device should not only be portable, but also user-friendly, and that it should meet the national healthcare regulatory and communication technology infrastructure frameworks and support users to complete tasks related to the teaching and learning of medicine and healthcare delivery.

Conclusions: The ANT approach to exploring appropriate mobile devices for the teaching and learning of medicine and healthcare delivery broadens our conceptualisation of appropriate mobile devices to combine the desired technical features with users’ preferences and internal/external stakeholders’ requirements.