ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2020
A Tool for Rating the Value of Health Education Mobile Apps to Enhance Student Learning (MARuL): Development and Usability Study.
Article in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Measuring the Quality of Clinical Skills Mobile Apps for Student Learning: Systematic Search, Analysis, and Comparison of Two Measurement Scales.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Pooled it
- Content Analysis of Human Anatomy Mobile Apps for Undergraduate Student Learning using MARuL.Medical science educator · 2026Article
- The neuroscience education readiness checklist for digital tools and methods.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2026Article
- Evaluation of medical education mobile apps with MARS and MARuL in a TPACK informed model.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Development of a digital peer-feedback tool for clinical skills training: a pilot study with second-year medical students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Evaluating Tailored Learning Experiences in Emergency Residency Training Through a Comparative Analysis of Mobile-Based Programs Versus Paper- and Web-Based Approaches: Feasibility Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.JMIR medical education · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Mobile Apps Used among Medical Students for Learning and Education: A Mixed-Method Concurrent Triangulation Approach.Applied clinical informatics · 2024Article
- Rapid Design of a Student-Centred App for Musculoskeletal Clinical Skills: An Example of a Theoretically Informed Approach to Developing Apps for Learning.Perspectives on medical education · 2024Article
- Factors Affecting Medical Students' Continuance Intention to Use Mobile Health Applications.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2022Article
- Redesigning a Web-Based Stakeholder Consensus Meeting About Core Outcomes for Clinical Trials: Formative Feedback Study.JMIR formative research · 2021Article
- Deprescribing Guidelines: Value of an Interactive Mobile Application.PRiMER (Leawood, Kan.) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo realize the potential for mobile learning in clinical skills acquisition, medical students and their teachers should be able to evaluate the value of an app to support student learning of clinical skills. To our knowledge, there is currently no rubric for evaluation of quality or value that is specific for apps to support medical student learning. Such a rubric might assist students to be more confident in using apps to support their learning.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to develop an instrument that can be used by health professional educators to rate the value of a mobile app to support health professional student learning.
methodsUsing the literature, we developed a list of potential criteria for the evaluation of educational app value, which were then refined with a student group using a modified nominal group technique. The refined list was organized into themes, and the initial rubric, Mobile App Rubric for Learning (MARuL, version 1), was developed. iOS and Android app stores were searched for clinical skills apps that met our inclusion criteria. After the 2 reviewers were trained and the item descriptions were refined (version 2), a random sample of 10 included apps, 5 for each mobile operating system, was reviewed. Interitem and interrater analyses and discussions with the reviewers resulted in refinement of MARuL to version 3. The reviewers completed a review of 41 clinical skills mobile apps, and a second round of interitem and interrater reliability testing was performed, leading to version 4 of the MARuL.
resultsStudents identified 28 items (from an initial set of 144 possible items) during the nominal group phase, and these were then grouped into 4 themes: teaching and learning, user centered, professional, and usability. Testing and refinement with reviewers reduced the list to 26 items. Internal consistency for MARuL was excellent (α=.96), and the interrater reliability as measured by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was good (ICC=0.66).
conclusionsMARuL offers a fast and user-friendly method for teachers to select valuable apps to enhance student learning.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.