NEF TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION (NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION) IN THE MEDICAL HISTOLOGY PRACTICAL LESSONS

Abstract

Despite the development of mobile device technology over recent years, its application in the field of teaching has not yet had a parallel development. Teaching subjects such as Histology has undergone a change in the digital use of its content and didactic methods. This paper describes a mobile device solution based on the use of Near Field Communication technology for supporting teaching in Medical Histology. The didactic contents are managed in a database which stores information and images corresponding to the histological slides that are handed out to students in the sample holders for their analysis under a microscope. By associating a single NFC chip to each sample holder and touching this chip with a Smartphone, students are given access to all the multimedia information related to the histological slides. The system developed, called HistoNFC, enables access to this information at any moment, as well as the follow-up to the didactic activity and student evaluation. Evaluation of the system has been carried out by Medical Histology students of Degree In Medicine at the University of Córdoba, assessing aspects of the assisted-learning process as well as technologies, and the results obtained have been very favourable for both.