Medical school uses iPads for learning

The UCF College of Medicine has lightened the load on the shoulders of medical students by replacing textbooks with iPads in an effort to provide more innovative learning methods.

The college has teamed up with Inkling, a publishing platform working to redesign textbooks with interactive content for students.

Matt MacInnis, founder and CEO of Inkling and former senior manager in international education at Apple, understands the need for new methods of learning.

"We've provided them with interactive applications and a more engaging way to learn," MacInnis said.

The textbooks, available in e-book format on the iPad, allow students to experience and interact with the material hands on. This more engaging method of learning, in response to such a mobile generation, gives medical students an opportunity to learn wherever they are with the click of a button.

"It's not like 100 years ago where everyone was content to sit in a lecture or read a textbook; that's not how students today want to learn," said Wendy Sarubbi, coordinator of information and publication services for the College of Medicine. "Textbooks are boring and expensive, and students want something interactive. They want to experience and interact with the learning, and that's what [Inkling] does."

The e-books add three-dimensional and animated images, self quizzes at the end of each chapter and various modules that allow users to experience a medical atmosphere. From video presentations that illustrate how to conduct a patient interview to models that indicate where to place a stethoscope to being able to feel and hear the difference between a healthy and a diseased heartbeat, the books provide assorted multimedia that keep students active in the content.

In addition to its portability and interactive content, another feature that differentiates these e-books is the price. Instead of buying a full print book for $200+, students have the option of purchasing a single chapter ranging as low as $1.99 to $6.99 in price.

"Inkling has it right; they understand the students. Flexibility is key and the savings are significant for the students," said Nadine Dexter, the director of the Harriet F. Ginsburg Health Sciences Library. "The student is now in charge of how much money they want to spend."

With hospitals adopting the use of iPads during patient interactive to show x-rays or to update patient records instantly, utilizing this technology among students now allows them to adapt quickly in medical environments where doctors and staff need instant access to information.

"Do you really want your doctor reading a 30-year-old textbook about heart disease? No," Sarubbi said. "Medicine is exploding with information, and this new way of learning is exciting and engaging. Our library team is very forward thinking. The goal Nadine [Dexter] has is to be 100-percent digital. Updating a standardized textbook can take years to do; it becomes absolute by the time it gets on the shelf. We want to get the most up-to-date information into the hands of students and faculty."

Local philanthropist Alan H. Ginsburg donated 100 iPads to the students last year, allowing instant access to the college's 98-percent digital Harriett F. Ginsburg Health Sciences Library.

"About every five years, 50 percent of most medical information available is proven to be incorrect," Dexter said. "By the time you finish your education three years from now, 10 percent of what you've learned has changed."

Pouya Ameli, a second-year medical student at the College of Medicine, has been using the iPad software since it was first brought to the students.

"The big picture of why a lot of the students came to UCF is because ultimately there's a pioneering spirit; the idea that you'll be innovating and building something, and our student body reflects that," Ameli said.

Through social networking, students are also able to collaborate with one another and their professors while studying. A question or studying tip can be left along the margins of a page for another to find, allowing students to share notes and faculty to provide instant feedback.

"Students can collaborate inside the book. They can have conversations on specific titles," MacInnis said. "The professor is in the book with them. If [students] have a question, they can answer right in the textbook."

"The cool thing for me, being someone who is into technology, is that we're innovating," Ameli said. "It's cool to have my book on my iPad and think of how far we've come. I have this half-inch thick device that is carrying multiple books three or four times its size. It's useful to have something that'll give you your information as soon as possible. That's the future, and that's where we're going."