Abstract

Background: Smartphone/internet can be the major tool for self-directed learning (SDL), which has been implemented in the competency-based medical education, but studies show that the medical students predominantly use it for non-educational purposes. We hypothesized that motivating the students to spend more time on smartphone/internet for their academic development may help them to achieve their academic learning goal of life-long learner.

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the duration, pattern of use of smartphone/internet, and information-seeking behavior of the students on the internet, to develop and introduce a motivational intervention for the effective use of the smartphone/internet for academic and educational purposes, and to study the effect of this motivational intervention on the duration and pattern of use of the smartphone/internet for academic purposes and SDL.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Government Medical College, Akola, on 129 volunteer students. Initially, a pre-test was given to assess the baseline knowledge. Followed by a questionnaire based on the smart/internet uses was given; the motivational intervention was designed based on the student’s responses and introduced. After the gap of 3 months of pre-test, the post-test on the same topic was conducted; and at the end, a feedback Questionnaire was given. The whole data, compiled, processed, and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Ssciences 16 statistical software. Frequency, percentage, paired t-test, and Chi-square tests were used to test the significance of the data at a significance level 0.01.

Results: The smartphones are preferred for internet use, more than 4 h/week in 78.3% of the students; its main purpose was for entertainment and communication. Its use for academic purpose is only 25%. In post-intervention, the students were using it more for academic purposes and non-academic use has decreased as compared to pre-intervention times. The mean post-test score was highly significant.

Conclusion: Our study demonstrated a positive effect on student’s SDL which could improve the better academic performances. Simple intervention like motivating the students to use smartphone/internet for their academic and professional development could help them to achieve the goal of SDL and lifelong learning.

Key words: Competency-Based Medical Education; Self-Directed Learning, The Motivational Intervention, Life-Long Learner