Exploring how medical students learn during clinical rotations: a pilot study with a mobile application

Student engagement is an indicator that correlates with the overall quality of learning. Strategies such as the flipped-classroom approach aim to increase student engagement, but new learning designs require careful consideration in terms of how they are experienced by students and whether they mediate an enhanced learning experience. The study aimed to explore how student learning behaviour and well-being changed with a transition in learning design from the traditional lecture-based approach to a flipped-classroom approach. Students were recruited during three eight-week Child and Adolescent Health blocks of a four-year graduate-entry medical program. Students were invited to use the myStudyMate app as a daily activity tracker for one week, completing daily reports on perceived learning quality and physical and emotional well-being. There were 38 student participations in the study. Results show that most students had a healthy balanced day. Students spent more time studying online than reading prescribed textbooks, which was most pronounced during the lecture week using the flipped classroom approach. With the flipped classroom approach, students spent more time examining patients (0.51 h in traditional versus 1.18 h in flipped classroom p = 0.02) and taking patient histories (0.31 h in traditional versus 0.71 h in flipped classroom p = 0.03). Qualitative results emphasized the value of knowledgeable and enthusiastic educators who involved students in patient care and provided constructive feedback. In general, the study also demonstrated feasible use of a mobile application as a learning activity tracker to understand students’ learning behaviour. Integration of the myStudyMate app with the existing learning management systems has been identified as one potential avenue for future research.