using the keynote app as a research tool. a case study in medical education
DESCRIPTION
Abstract Research in medical education has traditionally drawn on scientific evidence using quantitative methodologies. However, qualitative methods now bring new insights into the humanistic elements of healthcare. In the health sciences, traditional methods of data collection can now be transformed by the affordances of new technologies. The iPad enables alternative types of engagement with research participants. For instance, movable images can provide avenues for data providing deeper insights into individual experiences. The Keynote application (app) offers such an opportunity. In a recent Masters research project in Higher Education Studies, the iPad was used as a valuable tool to draw on students' critical reflection in terms of their obstetrics practical curricular task. Using a simple image on the Keynote app of the iPad, this project involved undergraduate medical students, who shifted the images to indicate their assessment of their personal growth. By talking to their actions as they adjusted the size and position of symbolic circles, the iPad acted as a vehicle to facilitate deeper reflection revealing richer insights. The novelty of using the tablet plus the added sensory input contributed to a deeper student engagement. As products of individual student insights, these images were interpreted to indicate shifts in students' knowledge, empathy and reflection from their fourth year Obstetrics experience to their insights two years later in their final year. The findings from this project demonstrate how the iPad fosters personal meaning, thereby enhancing the quality and efficacy of our educational practices.TRANSCRIPT
Using the Keynote App as a research tool
A case study in medical education
Veronica MitchellEducation Development Unit
Health Sciences FacultyUniversity of Cape Town, South Africa
@ iPad Conference in Higher EducationCyprus, March 2014
Research project
Supervisor: Prof Suellen Shay
The Curriculum in Medical Education
MastersHigher
EducationStudies
Context
My stance
Professionalism &
Health and Human Rights
The Curriculum
Research question
How do students negotiate the gap
between the fixed, intended curriculum
and the fluid, enacted curriculum
in their early Obstetrics delivery experience
?
Pam Hoffman, http://www.flickr.com/photos/pampan/7669484820/in/set-72157630806128380/
What about integration?What about integration?
Obstetrics practical rotation15 deliveries = competence
Year 4 student
s
Kaleidoscope of student experiences
Kaleido App on iPhone
Obstetrics in Year 4
Obstetrics in Year 4
South Africa’s weak public health system
Curriculum challenges
??
A changing educational landscape
Supercomplexity
Uncertainty
Prof Ronald Barnett @UCT June 2012
Barnett (2000:260) explains curricula as:
being lived by rather than being determined …
[with an] elusive quality about them.
Their actual dimensions and elements are tacit.
They take on certain patterns and relationships
but those patterns and relationships
will be hidden from all concerned, except as they are experienced by the students
Theoretical frame Barnett & Coates (2005) triad for professional
curricula
K
AB
K
B A
CompositionSize / Weighting
ColourSequence
Individual experiences
Personal & professional growth
Triple Schema
Unpacking the curricular domains
5 students in Year 4 in 2010
MethodologyMethodology
1. reflective commentaries
2. one-to-one interviews
3. iPad’s Keynote images
Affordances: Keynote AppAffordances: Keynote App
Novelty / appealingNovelty / appealingAlternative modalityAlternative modalityVisual dimensionVisual dimensionTactile component Tactile component Intergenerational bridgeIntergenerational bridge33rdrd party in the conversational space party in the conversational spaceSense of playSense of play
shifting images / familiar shifting images / familiar shapes / colour shapes / colour Circles created vs messiness of Circles created vs messiness of drawingsdrawings Keynote AppKeynote App
Methodology with the iPad
Explanation to studentsExplored the Keynote toolGave them a templateAlongside semi-structured questionsExplained their experiences by moving the circlesEmailed to researcherSaved as imagesPrinted for dissertation
Limitations: Keynote AppLimitations: Keynote App
Different Different New / UnfamiliarNew / UnfamiliarStudents more used to text Students more used to text Abstract nature of concepts Abstract nature of concepts
circles representing curricular circles representing curricular domainsdomainsTemplate usedTemplate used
Keynote AppKeynote AppBy George Tuli (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia
Commons
What about What about integration?integration?
K
AB
Using visual communication
Kress & van Leeuwen (2006)
Deeper hidden truth Microscopic view through circles Jewitt & Oyama (2001)
Analysing the visual component
StudentsYear 4 In 2010 Year 6 in 2012
Being Acting
Knowing
Research participants
Joan
Thabo
Sipho
Pseudonyms used
Participants
Mature, previous degrees, tactical, aware
of social justiceQuiet, reflective,
developing confidence
Proud leader, passionate about
Obstetrics
K
AB
In 2010
Student Joan
BA
K
Curriculum
In 2011
K
AB
Curriculum
Student Sipho
K
B A
In 2010 In 2012
K
AB
Curriculum
Student Thabo
K
B
A
In 2010 In 2012
Individual shifts, integration / transformation
Developed relationships, Understood & responded
to broader issues
Regrets, sense of numbnesswith compliance
Values his power, advice to me and others, critical of
peers in not adapting
Summary
Way forward
PhD
Value of using imagesEmerging iPad affordances
Reflecting on the tool Professionalism &
Health and Human Rights
Enriching experience - digging deeper into students’
authentic experiences- motivating critical reflection
Missing: Students comments on the technology
- enabling / constraining
iPad was a highlight for me
Conclusion
Deeper insights with alternative approaches
Keynote App was a valuable contribution to research
Exciting new opportunities arising
Illustration by Stacey Stent , thanks to Dick Ng’ambi
Thank You
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 South Africa License
.
References
Barnett, R. 2009. Knowing and becoming in the higher education curriculum. Studies in higher education. 34.4:429-440. Barnett. R. & Coate, K. 2005. Engaging the higher curriculum in higher education. SRHE & Open University Press. London
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen,T. 2006. Reading Images: The grammar of visual design. 2nd Ed. Routledge: London.
Jewitt, C & Oyama, R. 2001. Visual meaning: A social semiotic approach. In van Leeuwen T & Jewitt C. A handbook of visual analysis . London. SAGE. Publications.