Modern telephone as an educational and management tool among students: an observational study

Introduction. Smartphone has debuted in 1992. It combines functions of a regular phone with those of a portable computer. Nowadays it is spread worldwide and it is starting to serve as an educational tool more and more each day. Aim. Characteristics of smartphone usage as an educational and management tool amongst chosen group of students in Poland. Material and methods. 299 students of Medical University in Lodz (44.1% emergency medical services, 34.8% nursing and 21.1% public health). 71.9% (n = 215) respondents were females. An anonymous Google survey was used. Results. 51.5% (n = 154) students owe smartphones, 4% (n = 12) do not know which type of a telephone they possess. 68.6% (n = 205) have internet access in their phone. In the study group almost every third student used their phone to browse through educational materials of their University and every fifth used educational materials of different Universities. Conclusions. Universities should produce more educational and management tools for smartphones.