Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have played an increasingly prominent role in the clinical rotation components (i.e., 3rd and 4th years) of many medical programs. However, to date very few medical schools have actively utilized these devices in the first year of medical studies. This paper will focus on the role librarians played in the implementation of wireless PDAs as a learning tool, into a new first-year medical curriculum. Issues discussed will include: the collaborative selection of a "Gold Standard" suite of PDA software; PDA orientation and training for faculty and students; integration of these devices; student PDA usage; and future directions.
➧ 1 INTRODUCTIONQatar, located in the Arabian Gulf, has built an active program to fund research that will develop information infrastructure and lead to a knowledge society in the country. Direct application of the knowledge gained is both desired and eagerly anticipated by the leadership and within the populace. Opportunities to extend teaching and learning are very welcome. In this case study, we describe how computing and digital library experts have received funding 1 to create a computing technology infrastructure, to develop a consulting center, and to establish a culture of digital librarians and curators who will actively build online, open Arabic-English collections available throughout the country and the world. Another important aspect will be enhancing existing computer software to permit preservation, management, and searching of Arabic language resources. With this in mind, leading digital library scientists initiated this project to support computing education in the State of Qatar.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.