Learning technologies in homeopathic medicine education: drilling deeper into the dynamics and changing behaviours of the student body in complementary and homeopathic medicine

Background : There are emerging trends in learner attitudes, behaviour and values in relation to technology and learning within the complementary medicine field. No longer do colleges such as Endeavour College have a simple, homogenous student body. Now significant diversities in age, demographic and psychographic are increasingly present. In the last 3 to 5 years new features have emerged, with ‘wellness sector’, forward looking, proactive learners arriving in the classroom.

Method : A survey is undertaken annually in which all current students at Endeavour College were invited to participate. The Student Technology Survey examined the personal and educational use of technology, confidence and fluency in working with technology as a student, and attitudes and perceptions of technology and other facilities within the college. This paper drills into this survey data and reports on the interim results of three years of the homeopathy student voice at a large multi modality college of CAM.

Results : Responses to the survey over 3 years varied (Year 1 – n = 508; Year 2 – n = 572; Year 3 – n = 576). Rapid rise in the use of tablets (57%) in learning dominates the results and changing behaviours, and the increasing use of social media channels to facilitate student learning communities and accessing study resources. Increasingly, learners (39%) use the learning management system daily.

Discussion / Conclusion : Front and centre of this yearly collation of students attitudes and decisions is the growing use and in fact dependence on technologies, from apps, to learning management systems, on hardware such as smart phones and tablets. The data points to supporting the clear trends in the university sector world wide, but also key differences, with some resistances to the use of technologies, due to the unique values, demographics and psychographics of those who attends the college, and highlights urgent infrastructure priorities for CAM education.