Basia Diug1, Evie Kendal1, Dragan Ilic1. 1. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Medical Education Research and Quality Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Social media is regularly used by undergraduate students. Twitter has a constant feed to the most current research, news and opinions of experts as well as organisations. Limited evidence exists that examines how to use social media platforms, such as Twitter, effectively in medical education. Furthermore, there is limited evidence to inform educators regarding social media's potential to increase student interaction and engagement. AIM: To evaluate whether social media, in particular Twitter, can be successfully used as a pedagogical tool in an assessment to increase student engagement with staff, peers and course content. METHODS: First year biomedical science students at Monash University completing a core public health unit were recruited into the study. Twitter-related activities were incorporated into the semester long unit and aligned with both formative and summative assessments. Students completed a structured questionnaire detailing previous use of social media and attitudes towards its use in education post engagement in the Twitter-specific activities. Likert scale responses compared those who participated in the Twitter activities with those who did not using student's t-test. RESULTS: A total of 236 (79.4%) of invited students participated in the study. Among 90% of students who reported previous use of social media, 87.2% reported using Facebook, while only 13.1% reported previous use of Twitter. Social media was accessed most commonly through a mobile device (49.1%). Students actively engaging in Twitter activities had significantly higher end-of-semester grades compared with those who did not [Mean Difference (MD) = 3.98, 95% CI 0.40, 7.55]. Students perceived that the use of Twitter enabled greater accessibility to staff, was a unique method of promoting public health, and facilitated collaboration with peers. DISCUSSION: Use of social media as an additional, or alternate, teaching intervention is positively supported by students. Specific use of micro-blogs such as Twitter can promote greater student-staff engagement by developing an ongoing academic conversation.
BACKGROUND: Social media is regularly used by undergraduate students. Twitter has a constant feed to the most current research, news and opinions of experts as well as organisations. Limited evidence exists that examines how to use social media platforms, such as Twitter, effectively in medical education. Furthermore, there is limited evidence to inform educators regarding social media's potential to increase student interaction and engagement. AIM: To evaluate whether social media, in particular Twitter, can be successfully used as a pedagogical tool in an assessment to increase student engagement with staff, peers and course content. METHODS: First year biomedical science students at Monash University completing a core public health unit were recruited into the study. Twitter-related activities were incorporated into the semester long unit and aligned with both formative and summative assessments. Students completed a structured questionnaire detailing previous use of social media and attitudes towards its use in education post engagement in the Twitter-specific activities. Likert scale responses compared those who participated in the Twitter activities with those who did not using student's t-test. RESULTS: A total of 236 (79.4%) of invited students participated in the study. Among 90% of students who reported previous use of social media, 87.2% reported using Facebook, while only 13.1% reported previous use of Twitter. Social media was accessed most commonly through a mobile device (49.1%). Students actively engaging in Twitter activities had significantly higher end-of-semester grades compared with those who did not [Mean Difference (MD) = 3.98, 95% CI 0.40, 7.55]. Students perceived that the use of Twitter enabled greater accessibility to staff, was a unique method of promoting public health, and facilitated collaboration with peers. DISCUSSION: Use of social media as an additional, or alternate, teaching intervention is positively supported by students. Specific use of micro-blogs such as Twitter can promote greater student-staff engagement by developing an ongoing academic conversation.
Authors: Antonia Quinn; Teresa M Chan; Christopher Sampson; Catherine Grossman; Christine Butts; John Casey; Holly Caretta-Weyer; Michael Gottlieb Journal: Cureus Date: 2018-01-03
Authors: Miguel Angel Alvarez-Mon; Angel Asunsolo Del Barco; Guillermo Lahera; Javier Quintero; Francisco Ferre; Victor Pereira-Sanchez; Felipe Ortuño; Melchor Alvarez-Mon Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2018-05-28 Impact factor: 5.428
Authors: Kimberly D Acquaviva; Josh Mugele; Natasha Abadilla; Tyler Adamson; Samantha L Bernstein; Rakhee K Bhayani; Annina Elisabeth Büchi; Darcy Burbage; Christopher L Carroll; Samantha P Davis; Natasha Dhawan; Alice Eaton; Kim English; Jennifer T Grier; Mary K Gurney; Emily S Hahn; Heather Haq; Brendan Huang; Shikha Jain; Jin Jun; Wesley T Kerr; Timothy Keyes; Amelia R Kirby; Marion Leary; Mollie Marr; Ajay Major; Jason V Meisel; Erika A Petersen; Barak Raguan; Allison Rhodes; Deborah D Rupert; Nadia A Sam-Agudu; Naledi Saul; Jarna R Shah; Lisa Kennedy Sheldon; Christian T Sinclair; Kerry Spencer; Natalie H Strand; Carl G Streed; Avery M Trudell Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2020-12-02 Impact factor: 5.428