1. Mobile Phones in the Classroom: Student Perceptions of Phone App Use in Behavior Change Research
Yvonne V. Wells, Ph.D. and Jamila R. Ray, M.A.
Suffolk University, Department of Psychology
Introduction:
Yvonne V. Wells Ph.D. and, Ms. Jamila Ray, MA propose a study to survey student perceptions of the use of Mobile Phone Applications to teach about behavior change research. The research derives from three critical issues that Professors of behavioral sciences should consider if they want to incorporate Phone Applications into their teaching strategies. These are:
Student privacy and unintentional information sharing issues that could occur if students download Apps for classroom use.
Making Educational Apps sophisticated enough to keep technology savvy students engaged in course material.
Use of Phone Apps in the practice of Psychology to motivate behavior change.
Dr. Wells and Ms. Ray propose a lecture, demonstration and survey during one semester of a Social Psychology, course taught by Dr. Wells.
Procedures:
Students in Psychology 241, Social Psychology do group projects where they propose hypothetical behavior change interventions applying knowledge they gain in the course throughout the year. In Fall, 2014, students will listen to a lecture given by Dr. Wells on an articles about the feasibility of using Cell Phone Apps in medical and psychological practice. These articles are already part of her standard syllabus:
Morris, M., Kathawala, Q., Leen, T., and colleagues (2009) Mobile therapy: Case study evaluations of a cell-phone application for emotional self-awareness. Journal of Medical Internet Research..
Free, C., Phillips, G., Watson, L., and colleagues (2013). The effectiveness of mobile-health technologies to improve health care services delivery processes: A systemic review and meta-analysis. PLOS Medicine, 10(1), 1-26.
They discuss these articles critically in the class and some students decide that they will actually propose interventions that Psychologists could do using Mobile Phone technology.
For instance, this semester one student group proposed a hypothetical Mobile Phone App. that could be used to send teens reminders throughout the year to look at their “natural beauty” positively. The Apps would link to pictures that the teens took of themselves, wearing little make-up and styling their hair in more natural and less commercial styles (styles that emphasized natural curls, straight hair without curl enhancements, fresh skin without make-up. etc.). Then at the end of the year, self-esteem would be measured in all the teens who had experienced this Mobile Phone “treatment”.
Demonstration and Discussion:
Ms. Ray will next, demonstrate the downloading of a Mobile App in another lecture and discuss with the class, privacy issues associated with certain Apps, and how to make sure the App they choose to download does not open their phone to unintended sharing of information.
One App that Dr. Wells and Ms. Ray have already downloaded themselves, the “Provider Resilience Application” which is used to facilitate self-care in Veterans from the Gulf Wars:
will be demonstrated with emphasis on what information on their cell phones becomes “non-secure when that App. Is downloaded to a phone.
Students will decide whether or not they will download this App or any other in the context of the class.
Students who are willing to do a survey at the end of the course about their App use during the course will read and sign a Consent Form.
Data Collection:
Ms. Ray will return at the end of the semester and, if students who consented to complete the final Survey still want to do so, they will receive the Survey on the same day as they receive the Course evaluations. Surveys will be collected by class representative who handles Course evaluations. Dr. Wells and Ms. Ray will not be in the classroom. Surveys will be anonymous. They will be kept separately from Consent forms. They will be unavailable to Dr. Wells and Ms. Ray until after grades have been turned in.
Students who decide to fill one out will be asked to read and sign the Consent Form which will be kept separate from their survey by the Class representative.
How will the data be considered?
Common themes that students touch on in their narrative answers to open ended survey questions will be compared with the issues that Dr. Wells and Ms. Ray believe are important from a Professors perspective.
Overlap and discrepancy among themes will form the basis for interesting conversations with Faculty members in Faculty
Literature cited
Blah, blah, and blah Blahing, blahing, and more blahing. Journal of Blahology 1:1-2.
Blah, blah, and blah Blahing, blahing, and more blahing. Journal of Blahology 1:1-2.
Researcher Designed Measure:
A survey was created by Dr. Wells and Ms. Ray which asks students about their experiences using cell phone apps that relate to behavior change or behavior improvement. The survey asks questions that encourage students to discuss openly the value and feasibility of using Mobile Phone Apps in a classroom context.
Acknowledgments
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Further information
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