JMIR medical education
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JMIR medical education · Sep 2015
Go Where the Students Are: A Comparison of the Use of Social Networking Sites Between Medical Students and Medical Educators.
Medical education has grown beyond the boundaries of the classroom, and social media is seen as the bridge between informal and formal learning as it keeps students highly engaged with educational content outside the classroom. ⋯ Although social media continue to grow, some educators find that they do not offer suitable modes of learning. However, it is important to acknowledge that there are persistent differences in technology adoption and use along gender, racial, and socioeconomic lines; this is often referred to as the "digital divide". The current study shows that students prefer certain posts like quizzes and revision files, while educators are focused on posting videos, articles, and explanatory comments. Medical educators are encouraged to focus on the students in a way to minimize the gap between learners and educators. It will remain our responsibility as educators to focuson the student, use SNSs at their fullest, and integrate them into traditional Web-based management systems and into existingcurricula to best benefit the students.