Effectiveness of Smartphone Application in Histology Practice

Abstract

In recent years, the use of smartphone applications for education is increasing. Although applications are being used for various educational aspects such as exams, the study of medical educational application is lacking. This study aims to investigate the effect of educational applications on medical education by analyzing the utility of and satisfaction with educational applications for histology courses in medical schools. The researcher employed an application called "BAND" that can be used to upload and share microscopic figures taken during histology lectures. A total of 82 first-grade students from Keimyung University Medical School who participated in this study expressed satisfaction with using "BAND". A total of 68 (83%) students were satisfied with learning histology through the application, and 72 (88%) students indicated that using the application was greatly helpful for the organizational practice test and expressed overall satisfaction with the application use. This benefit was because of easy contact (29.9%), searching ability (29.9%), and memory with humorous methods by friends (20.7%). And it application is most helpful during epithelium section (20.8%) and student want to use this application for anatomy (40.3%) or microbiology (38.8%) practices. The study results imply the need for further research so that the educational application can be used in various medical education fields in the future.

Effectiveness of animation-based instruction on university students’ achievement in cell biology

“…The researchers who support the use of these tools in teaching argue that the animations are better than the static pictures used in scientific books or for illustration in cell biology courses, that they are a way to illustrate the teacher's explanations during a course, that they can facilitate the synthesis of the biological phenomena studied or their ability to develop self-learning skills in students (Azizah & Widiartin, 2019;Berney et al, 2015;Kiat et al, 2020;Roehling, 2018;Xiu et al, 2019;Yang et al, 2019). Other researchers have mentioned the fact that the use of these video animations increases students' motivation and their cognitive and emotional engagement (Ekberg & Gao, 2018;Qaddumi et al, 2021;Steiner & Mendelovitch, 2016) and makes learners active (Geri et al, 2017;Ramsay & Terras, 2015).On the other hand, researchers who disagree with the use of video animations in teaching argue that these animations can generate a cognitive load for young learners, especially if the speed of these animations is fast (Berney et al, 2015) or if they greatly simplify the phenomenon being studied (Stith, 2004).…”

Integrating technology-mediated learning in biology education (histology): A systematic literature review

“…The most recent tool is not always superior; rather, it serves as a supplement to the traditional method of instruction [13]. Researchers can either search for, innovate or invent applications that meet educational needs [14].…”