Not just digital natives: Integrating technologies in professional education contexts

Smith, Erika E.; Kahlke, Renate; Judd, Terry

doi:10.14742/ajet.5689

Cited by 65 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Digital literacy of students and young physicians, who are often referred to as the generation of digital natives, is discussed ambivalently in the literature. Although some authors postulate that growing up with digital services may lead to differentiated use in a professional context [ 18 ], other publications stress that the implication of the digital native stereotype would leave learners unsupported and technologies used in inappropriate ways, making further research in this area indispensable [ 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate Medical Competencies in Digital Health and Curricular Module Development: Mixed Methods Study

Poncette¹,

Glauert²,

Mosch³

et al. 2020

J Med Internet Res

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Background Owing to an increase in digital technologies in health care, recently leveraged by the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians are required to use these technologies appropriately and to be familiar with their implications on patient care, the health system, and society. Therefore, medical students should be confronted with digital health during their medical education. However, corresponding teaching formats and concepts are still largely lacking in the medical curricula. Objective This study aims to introduce digital health as a curricular module at a German medical school and to identify undergraduate medical competencies in digital health and their suitable teaching methods. Methods We developed a 3-week curricular module on digital health for third-year medical students at a large German medical school, taking place for the first time in January 2020. Semistructured interviews with 5 digital health experts were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an abductive approach. We obtained feedback from the participating students and lecturers of the module through a 17-item survey questionnaire. Results The module received overall positive feedback from both students and lecturers who expressed the need for further digital health education and stated that the field is very important for clinical care and is underrepresented in the current medical curriculum. We extracted a detailed overview of digital health competencies, skills, and knowledge to teach the students from the expert interviews. They also contained suggestions for teaching methods and statements supporting the urgency of the implementation of digital health education in the mandatory curriculum. Conclusions An elective class seems to be a suitable format for the timely introduction of digital health education. However, a longitudinal implementation in the mandatory curriculum should be the goal. Beyond training future physicians in digital skills and teaching them digital health’s ethical, legal, and social implications, the experience-based development of a critical digital health mindset with openness to innovation and the ability to assess ever-changing health technologies through a broad transdisciplinary approach to translate research into clinical routine seem more important. Therefore, the teaching of digital health should be as practice-based as possible and involve the educational cooperation of different institutions and academic disciplines.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate Medical Competencies in Digital Health and Curricular Module Development: Mixed Methods Study

Poncette¹,

Glauert²,

Mosch³

et al. 2020

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Building on Prensky's interpretation of features of digital natives, namely, grow up with technology, comfortable with multi-tasking, reliant on graphics for communication and thrive on instant gratification and rewards, existing studies on digital natives and their technology adoption mostly focused on student cohort (e.g., Bennett and Maton, 2010 ; Teo, 2013 ; Chen et al, 2016 ; Tran et al, 2020 ), with few studies examining adult users' digital nativity. To address this research gap, studies conducted in a higher education context suggested that university teachers also demonstrated features of digital natives (Smith et al, 2020 ; Huang et al, 2021c ), which empirically supported scholars' doubt about defining digital nativity by age. Despite these efforts, it remains unknown whether and to what extent digital nativity is related to university teachers' technology adoption.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Digital Nativity, Computer Self-Efficacy, and Technology Adoption: A Study Among University Faculties in China

Zhao

Жао

2021

Front. Psychol.

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Technology acceptance and usage become obligatory for people when their work modes change as a result of an unexpected but irresistible force. This is especially true for teachers who are reluctant technology adopters compared with their students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government issued national policies to enforce online teaching and learning. As the success of online teaching largely depends on university faculties' readiness and intentions, how they perceive and practice technology adoption becomes an issue that warrants in-depth research. Unlike their students who grow up with technology and can be seen as digital natives, university faculties may lack competence in using technology, whether to teach or do other tasks. Previous studies on faculties' technology adoption were all conducted in situations where they made volitional decisions to use technology, but their mandatory technology use received scant attention. In addition, although studies suggested that teachers demonstrated features of digital natives, it remains unknown whether or to what extent their digital nativity correlates with technology intentions. To address these research gaps, the current study examined Chinese university faculties' intentions to use technology for online teaching by incorporating digital nativity and computer self-efficacy as key determinants into technology acceptance variables. Results suggested that digital nativity was a key factor that affected university faculties' online teaching, as evidenced by the fact that 67% of the variance could be explained by perceived usefulness, attitudes and digital nativity. In addition, it was also found that computer efficacy significantly influenced perceived ease of use.

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“…Research examining digital preparedness of graduates entering the health sector has identified gaps between students' actual digital skills and competencies and the requirements of digital or e-health practices (Edirippulige et al, 2018;Gray et al, 2014;Kenny et al, 2016;Knight & Drysdale, 2020). Although e-health competencies are represented in international guidelines and accrediting bodies such as the Australian Medical Council, coverage of health information technologies is often vague or generalised, and is isolated from, rather than integrated with, vocational learning programs (Smith et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our study, we examined students' digital skills and competencies to create a baseline for educators to use this information to design targeted classroom activities and ensure these skills and competencies are relevant to health sector requirements (Smith et al, 2020). The importance of digital practices for learning within the university and for professional and career development was also investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital preferences and perceptions of students in health professional courses at a leading Australian university: A baseline for improving digital skills and competencies in health graduates

Cham

Edwards

Kruesi

et al. 2021

AJET

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This study aimed to improve understanding of graduate students’ digital preferences and perceptions to prepare them for work in the digitally enabled health sector. We surveyed 361 students from five disciplines to create a baseline of their digital capabilities. Results show that students were confident in engaging with day-to-day technologies required for discipline-specific learnings and most were reasonably aware of digital privacy and security. However, only 11% of the students reported having sufficient university support and services to develop their digital skills and competencies, and only 39% of the students believed they have the relevant skills for entering the workforce. To improve their understanding in this area, students attended a digital skills and employability workshop that was developed in partnership with teaching specialists, learning and teaching librarians and career services coordinators. Post-workshop findings show that this learning intervention positively impacted students’ understanding of their own digital capabilities and increased their awareness of the importance of this core skill for both the university and the workforce. Teaching staff can use these findings to improve student digital learning in health professional curricula, which will contribute to knowledge transfer and communication with digital health employers. Implications for practice or policy: Heath professional educators can bridge the gap in digital practices between graduates and the workplace by understanding students’ baseline digital skills and competencies and developing targeted learning opportunities within the curriculum to support students’ digital confidence, experience, attitudes and understandings of digital practices and digital skills and competencies. Students’ digital skills and competencies can be enhanced by facilitating dialogue between universities, employers and accrediting bodies in the health sector to set consistent and realistic expectations.

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Not just digital natives: Integrating technologies in professional education contexts

Cited by 65 publications

References 47 publications

Undergraduate Medical Competencies in Digital Health and Curricular Module Development: Mixed Methods Study

Undergraduate Medical Competencies in Digital Health and Curricular Module Development: Mixed Methods Study

Digital Nativity, Computer Self-Efficacy, and Technology Adoption: A Study Among University Faculties in China

Digital preferences and perceptions of students in health professional courses at a leading Australian university: A baseline for improving digital skills and competencies in health graduates

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