LearnENT, an educational app for iOS, was developed to promote a standardized experience otolaryngology in head and neck surgery (OTOHNS) for University of Ottawa medical students. Its development was grounded in pedagogical theory including Laurillard’s design process, Honey and Mumford’s learning styles, and Nielsen’s theory of usability. This paper examines LearnENT's design and development processes as well as the role of mobile apps in medical education. Features of the LearnENT app as they apply to Constructivist learning are also highlighted. 1. Introduction The Constructivist Theory of Learning (CTL) states that learning is improved when the learner is engaged, the material is relevant to the task, and the learner chooses how and when to learn [1]. Electronic learning (e-learning) has been shown to be a viable modality to address CTL when pedagogically sound instructional design is utilized. Undergraduate medical education in otolaryngology and head and neck Surgery (OTOHNS) is highly variable [2] in Canadian medical schools. At the University of Ottawa, the duration of the undergraduate clerkship rotation in otolaryngology is one week. To help provide a standardized OTOHNS exposure and to emphasize key objectives to students in their clerkship at the University of Ottawa, LearnENT, a mobile (Apple iOS-based) application was developed. This paper will focus on the pedagogical and technological aspects of the development of LearnENT and the reasons behind several of the app’s major features. 2. Methods The development of LearnENT was guided by Laurillard’s learning design process [3, 4], (Figure 1). Figure 1: Laurillard’s learning design process. (1) Determination of Blueprint Campisi describes five core clerkship goals for OTOHNS (Table 1) [2]. Combined with a review of the established OTOHNS clerkship objectives at the University of Ottawa, two primary goals for the LearnENT app were established:(a)provide the student with the ability to learn/review the pertinent OTOHNS physical exam skills prior to beginning their clinical rotation in Otolaryngology (allowing them to gain the most of their experience during this short rotation);(b)expose the student to interactive clinical cases representing common and/or life threatening conditions in OTOHNS to ensure a standardized exposure to these conditions for all students. Table 1: Core clerkship objectives (from Campisi et al.). (2) Choice of Platform The Apple iOS platform (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) was chosen primarily because it has been widely adopted throughout the world; with more than 200
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