Developing an Adaptive Mobile Platform in Family Medicine Field Experiences: User Perceptions

Abstract

EASEL (education through application-supported experiential learning) is a platform designed to provide just-in-time content and reflection opportunities to students during field experiences, such as interviews or field labs, conducted as part of the workload in a course. This study was conducted in area of family medicine education at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. EASEL allows instructors and students flexibility to engage with course content based on the time of day and the location of each student conducting field work by providing access to questions and content before, during, and after a targeted field experience. In this study, three cohorts of family medicine students (N=20) interviewed either a health care professional or a patient and used EASEL to facilitate and support their experience in the field. This study examined the student perceptions of EASEL. The data indicated instructive information on the usability of the EASEL platform and aided developers in considering future technologies to use as a part of the platform.