Learning medical English terminology through mobile devices: A two-year trial to develop mobile learning content for Japanese medical students

Abstract

We developed a range of vocabulary quizzes designed to help our students build their medical vocabulary using their mobile devices. We delivered medical vocabulary quizzes to 242 students, twice a week from July, 2013 to January, 2014. A survey conducted on the students’ perceptions of the materials showed that half of the students found them useful. However, the students’ actual use of the content averaged a mere 9.5 %, which illustrated that the students’ readiness for mobile learning was low while their mobile learning expectations were high. We carried out a second trial with 209 students from July, 2014 to February, 2015, after modifying the contents of the materials. Data analysis showed the average rate of participants who actually tried the quizzes in the second trial was 24.3 %, which was much higher than that of the previous year. This was probably due to our modification of the contents in the second trial.