Asarbakhsh Mariam, Sandars John
School of Medicine, the University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Clin Teach. 2013 Feb;10(1):47-50. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-498X.2012.00627.x.
Usability is the ease with which something can be used, but this essential concept appears to be rarely considered when using technology for teaching and learning in medical education.
There is an increasing use of technology in an attempt to enhance teaching and learning in medical education, from the use of websites and virtual learning environments (VLEs) to interactive online tutorials to blogs and podcasts. However, research suggests that the potential use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in medical education is often not fully realised. One aspect is the perceived usefulness of the technology, but another is the usability as perceived by the learner.
The purpose of this article is to introduce the concept of usability in relation to the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in medical education, the essential factors that should be considered in the design and implementation of using technology, and to describe how the usability can be tested.
Careful attention needs to be made to the main factors that determine usability: the learner and context; the technology being used; and the content.
可用性是指某事物易于使用的程度，但在医学教育中利用技术进行教学时，这一关键概念似乎很少被考虑。
在医学教育中，为了加强教学，技术的使用越来越多，从网站和虚拟学习环境（VLE）的使用到交互式在线教程，再到博客和播客。然而，研究表明，技术在医学教育中用于加强教学的潜在用途往往没有得到充分实现。一方面是技术的感知有用性，但另一方面是学习者所感知的可用性。
本文的目的是介绍与利用技术加强医学教育教学相关的可用性概念、在技术使用的设计和实施中应考虑的关键因素，并描述如何测试可用性。
需要仔细关注决定可用性的主要因素：学习者和环境；所使用的技术；以及内容。
