Survey and interviews from A responsive e-learning system for the challenges facing health sciences education

Data Description The data presented is from a survey that investigated the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) for eLearning amongst the 2017 medical student population at Wits. Methods The methodology was a descriptive, cross-sectional, online and paper-based survey. It was distributed to a convenience sample of medical students at Wits. The survey was generated using REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) software. The target population was stratified by points in the curriculum in which there is a change due to the teaching and learning methodology being used or the addition of new students into the class. 1 First year (entry year; n=255) 2 Third year (when graduate entrants join the school leavers in the Graduate Entry Medical Programme (GEMP); n=350) 3 Sixth year (final year; n=319) medical students. Process A pilot study with 19 student volunteers was conducted starting in May 2017. Volunteers were recruited by students from MBBCh 5. Following the pilot study, the questionnaire was edited to reduce the length, enhance clarity and to ensure readability across a range of devices. The final survey consisted of seven sections: 1. information and consent (1 question), 2. demographic data (4 questions), 3. year of study (2 questions), 4. device ownership and 5. usage to support learning (12 questions), 6. access to and reliability of the internet connection (5 questions), 7. usage of the learning management system (2 questions), 8. BYOD (6 questions). In Section 4, students were also asked to place themselves on a 100-point scale bound by opposite terms designed to measure their attitude and disposition and attitude to technology as developed and validated in the ECAR study. Lower numbers indicate certain characteristics about disposition to use technology (reluctant user, late adopter, critic, technophobe) and attitudes towards technology usage (useless, burdensome, distraction), while higher numbers indicate more positive dispositions (enthusiast, supporter, early adopter, technophile) and attitudes (useful, beneficial, enhancement) towards ICT.NL201