Exploring the effectiveness of technology-based learning on the educational outcomes of undergraduate healthcare students: an overview of systematic reviews protocol

Abstract

IntroductionRapid technology development due to the introduction of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Internet of Things has created a demand and gradual transition from traditional teaching and learning to technology-based learning in higher education, including healthcare education. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this process, with educators now required to quickly adapt to and adopt such changes. The abundance of available systematic reviews has made the effectiveness of such approaches ambiguous especially in healthcare education. Therefore, a protocol of the overview of systematic reviews (OoSR) is planned to extrapolate the effectiveness of technology-based learning in undergraduate healthcare education.Methods and analysisScopus, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection databases were selected. Screening was conducted independently by at least two authors and the decision for inclusion was done through discussion or involvement of an arbiter against a predetermined criteria. Included articles will be evaluated for quality using A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews and Risk of Bias in Systematic Review tools, while primary systematic review articles will be cross-checked and reported for any overlapping using the ‘corrected covered area’ method. Only narrative synthesis will be employed according to the predefined themes into two major dimensions—theory and knowledge generation (focusing on cognitive taxonomy due to its ability to be generalised across disciplines), and clinical-based competence (focusing on psychomotor and affective taxonomies due to discipline-specific influence). The type of technology used will be identified and extracted.Ethics and disseminationThe OoSR involves analysis of secondary data from published literature, thus ethical approval is not required. The findings will provide a valuable insight for policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers in terms of technology-based learning implementation and gaps identification. The findings will be published in several reports due to the extensiveness of the topic and will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conferences.PROSPERO registration numberCRD4202017974.

A Meta-synthesis on Technology-Based Learning Among Healthcare Students in Southeast Asia

“…A detailed description of each stage in the meta-synthesis is presented as subheadings. The framework on technology-based review was informed by Romli et al [ 33 ]. The authors expanded it to the population of postgraduate students but limited the studies to Southeast Asia.…”

“…The authors expanded it to the population of postgraduate students but limited the studies to Southeast Asia. Romli et al’s [ 33 ] paper is a protocol for an overview of systematic reviews pertaining to the effectiveness of technology-based learning in health professional education. Thus, several aspects in the methodology, such as the definition of technology-based learning, generated keywords, and database selection, were adopted from Romli et al [ 33 ].…”

“…Thus, several aspects in the methodology, such as the definition of technology-based learning, generated keywords, and database selection, were adopted from Romli et al [ 33 ].…”

“…These studies might be influenced by the anxiety over the pandemic, rather than over the use of technology. Technology use in health professional education has been researched over the past several decades, indicating that it is not something new and can be anticipated in practice [ 33 ]. Quantitative evidence supported technology use in health profession education as effective and beneficial [ 34 – 36 ].…”

“…Learning from consumers’ experience in time will facilitate improvement and customization of teaching delivery. Systematic reviews on technology-based learning are available, but meta-synthesis is negligible [ 33 , 34 ]. A recent systematic review of reviews recommends future studies to conduct meta-synthesis [ 35 ].…”