Investigating the Digital Literacy Needs of Healthcare Students when using Mobile Tablet Devices

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of two case studies that investigated the digital attitudes, skills and development needs of healthcare students when using mobile tablet devices to assess student-nurse competencies in clinical practice and when used in the classroom to facilitate digitally enabled learning. Participants have been asked to complete a bespoke scenariobased digital competence self-assessment questionnaire based on the EU DIGCOMP framework; this enabled a baseline for individual and group practice. The first case study documented the individual perceptions and experiences on the digital literacy of students by analysing the students’ reflective diaries. In the second a questionnaire documented the student experience of utilising tablet devices to support the delivery of technology-enhanced learning designs in the classroom. The results showed a complex, highly-individual profile for each student, while the group exhibited some common trends and characteristics. The majority of students felt capable in using tablet technologies for learning but there was no clear consensus as to whether technology-enhanced learning should be introduced on a larger scale. Further work is proposed to model a curriculum-development process for embedding digital literacies into curriculum delivery through the utilisation of technology-enhanced, activity-based learning designs.