eStudent Initiative

Overview

Stanford University School of Medicine provided iPads to all incoming first year medical students and Master of Medicine students for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 academic years.

For the 2012-2013 academic year and onward, students were given a stipend with which to buy a tablet if they so chose.

Interest Factors

  • Student readiness: Our students already have considerable familiarity and facility with educational technologies, and this creates new opportunities for efficient, mobile, and innovative learning.
  • The flexibility of iPad technology: The iPad allows students to view and annotate course content electronically, facilitating advance preparation as well as in-class note-taking in a highly portable, sharable and searchable format.
  • Access to information/Information Literacy: Students will be able to easily access high-quality information at any place, at any time (for example, images from textbooks on digital course reserve, image databases, journal articles, Lane Library's various search tools, etc.).
  • "Going green": Replacing printed syllabi with PDF's is in line with the Sustainable Stanford initiative, which aims to build sustainable practices into every aspect of campus life.

Use in Clerkships

The first full class of students with iPads entered clerkships during the summer of 2012. Areas of interest for mobile device use by clerkship students include information literacty, access to electronic medical records, patient education, referencing clinical information, collaboration with team members, access to educational materials, and access to medical imaging.

Prepared Digital Course Content

For every hour of lecture, students are provided with:

  • PDF of syllabus with bookmarks for quick browsing (start of quarter)
  • PDF of lecture slides (usually before class)
  • 3 downloadable high-quality mp4 lecture videos (camera feed, projector feed, and synchronized side-by-side combining the two)

Additional resources:

  • Lane Library provides online calculators, databases, and references
  • CourseWork online course management system contains lab materials, self-tests, online exams, additional study materials
  • Online web-based "virtual microscopy" slides related to most lab sessions

Project Team

School-wide effort coordinated between multiple Dean's office administrative groups.

Funding

Dean's Office special project.

Presentations, Publications, and Press

 

Project Start Date

Summer 2010

Project Complete Date

Summer 2012, Ongoing Support