Learning theory and its application to the use of social media in medical education

Abstract

Background There is rapidly increasing pressure to employ social media in medical education, but a review of the literature demonstrates that its value and role are uncertain.

Connectivism: A knowledge learning theory for the digital age?

“…Previous ways of navigating and filtering available information are likely to prove ineffective in these new contexts. The ability to access relevant information and harness the resources offered by the views and opinions of others have become important skills particularly as the need for lifelong learning, both formal and informal is increasingly recognised by individuals, organisations and institutions (Cheston et al, 2013, Flynn et al, 2015.…”

“…2012. It is beginning to be recognised by medical educators (Sandars and Morrison, 2007, Sandars and Haythornthwaite, 2007, Mehta et al, 2013, Lau, 2014, Downes, 2015, Flynn et al, 2015 due to its' claim to provide a lens through which teaching and learning using digital technologies can be better understood and managed. This paper aims to examine connectivism and its potential application in medical education.…”

Social Media use within medical education: A systematic review to develop a pilot questionnaire on how social media can be best used at BSMS

“…They are centred on the fact that students subjectively construct knowledge themselves. Flynn et al, (2015) identified the Social Development Theory and Communities of Practice to be the most important Constructivism theories linked to social media whilst Hennessy et al, (2016) highlight the importance of a Zone of Proximal development (Table 2). With the integration of social media into medical education, learning has become a more social process because it is user-generated and Whyte W, Hennessy C MedEdPublish https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2017.000083 collaborative.…”

“…Whilst they believe that it is the lecturer's role to teach students how best to use social media, they found that the staff members did not actually have the skill set to do so. If social media is misused then it can negatively impact the students learning due to disrupted workflow and the potential to distract (Flynn et al, 2015;Madanick, 2015). If social media is to be successfully integrated into medical education than this mismatch must be addressed.…”

“…These points are raised in Kind et al's (2014) study which is a compilation of twelve tips that help take educators through the process of using social media within medical education. Flynn et al (2015) outlined what lecturers can and should be achieving with social media usage. The study concluded that lecturers should have an understanding of Connectivism and Constructivism so that they could provide the most effective education.…”