PDAs have the potential to play an important role in curriculum delivery and daily clinical activities of medical students and staff. We evaluated the wireless PPC (Pocket PC) which has a color screen, large memory capacity for storage, and wireless capability, for medical curriculum delivery and online formative assessment for medical students at the National University Hospital.

Twelve final-year medical students were each loaned a PPC at the beginning of the one-week posting in the Department, where a wireless network access point was located. The medical students used HP Jornada 565 PPCs fitted with Ylez compact flash (CF) wireless LAN cards operating on IEEE 802.11b standard for wireless intranet and internet access. The PPCs were preloaded with 1) a posting schedule, 2) pre-tutorial reading materials, 3) objectives for the posting and for each tutorial, and 4) Adobe Acrobat reader. In addition, PPCs were equipped with wireless e-mail access for each student. The reading materials were designed to promote independent and active learning and to encourage critical thinking. References were hypertext-linked for direct access on the Internet to facilitate evidence-based learning. The students could print via an infrared enabled printer. One of the tutorials involved interactive use of the PPCs, in which teaching materials consisting of case scenarios and images in Acrobat format were beamed to students before the session, eliminating the need for a screen projector.

The students were given a formative assessment at the end of the posting. The assessment consisted of sixty-four questions in multiple-choice, true-false, match-the-following and image-based formats. A unique single-use password was created for each student. Questions and choices were visible in a single screen navigated by vertical scrolling only. Images were reduced to fit the PPC screen but could be easily enlarged with a screen tap for better resolution. The questions were viewed sequentially in a forward manner but previous questions could be accessed and reviewed randomly. Questions that were skipped were highlighted in a separate row. Before submission, the user was alerted to review the responses. After submission, scores were instantly displayed as percentages. Correct and incorrect answers could be reviewed for learning. A three point Lickert scale consisting of disagree, agree, or strongly agree, was used to record a post-trial online feedback survey of all students.

All the students agreed that the PPC was useful and convenient for the retrieval of online reading materials compared to a hardcopy format and that wirelessly accessible reference materials were timesaving. Eighty-three percent said they might not have searched for the reference material, had it not been accessible on the PPC. All agreed that having posting schedules on the PPC was very useful, that the PPC could play an important role in medical education, and that the PPC was an effective learning tool.

The project successfully demonstrated the feasibility and high end-user satisfaction in the use of PDAs for curriculum delivery to medical students. In spite of the smaller display, the easy accessibility of reference material on PDAs may promote student learning. Our pilot project also demonstrated the feasibility of using PDAs in small interactive sessions without the need for a screen projector. The results demonstrated that the wireless PPC could be effectively applied to optimize educational outcomes in medical education. We speculate that wireless PPCs can substitute for networked desktop or laptop computers for curriculum delivery, online feedback, and formative assessment, while reducing costs and increasing mobility.

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Chang H.F.
Centre for IT & Applications
Faculty of Medicine
National University of Singapore
MD11, 10 Medical Drive
#01-05
Singapore 117597
Phone: (65) 8748319
Fax: (65) 7785743
Email: medchf@nus.edu.sg
Website: www.med.nus.edu.sg

CO-AUTHORS:
Alur P
Assoc Prof Lee S.H.
Assoc Prof Koh D.R.
Assoc Prof Khoo H.E.
Assoc Prof Joseph R
Prof Lee E.H.
Dean's Office
Faculty of Medicine
10 Medical Drive
#02-02
Singapore 117597
Phone: (65)8743296
Fax: (65)7785743
Email: Dr Alur P (palur@hotmail.com)
Assoc Prof Lee S.H. (patleesh@nus.edu.sg) Assoc Prof Koh D.R. (phskohdr@nus.edu.sg) Assoc Prof Khoo H.E. (medkhe@nus.edu.sg) Assoc Prof Joseph R (Dpaeroyj@nus.edu.sg) Prof Lee E.H. (meddean@nus.edu.sg)
Website: www.med.nus.edu.sg