Category: 6210

The article I selected was Social Media and Medical Education in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review. This article focused on medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic and how social media applications have the capabilities to deliver different educational outcomes. The conclusion of the article noted that social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, and podcasts should be incorporated into medical education, and clinicians and medical educators should evolve to include these modalities into their course curriculum.

A survey of medical resident students noted that nearly 90% listened to a podcast at least once a month, and approximately 72% reported that podcasts changed their experience with patients (Riddell et al., 2017 as cited in Katz and Nandi, 2021). Another study found that 98% of medical students used YouTube as a web-based information source to supplement their education (Jaffar, 2012, as cited in Katz and Nandi, 2021). Medical students have also used Facebook Groups to connect with others and share their personal experiences, Instagram has been used for image-heavy topics such as dermatology, and Twitter has been used by medical students for focused discussion boards or chats about a particular topic.

This journal article also addresses some important challenges and pitfalls of social media use within medical education. For instance, one major concern is the massive amount of misinformation on these open platforms. “For instance, an analysis of dermatological hashtag use on Instagram showed that only 5% of the top dermatology-related posts were created by board-certified dermatologists” (Katz and Nandi, 2021, para. 24). So much misinformation can be spread quickly within the social media platforms that learners and readers must be cautious of the information they receive and verify any medical content with a licensed provider.

Additionally, the article throws caution to the use of social media by professionals in perceived digital professionalism and note that employers and academic leadership may survey student public social media profiles and make conclusions based on their findings. Medical students should use social media platforms responsibly.  

References

Jaffar, A. A. (2012). YouTube: An emerging tool in anatomy education. Anatomical Sciences Education, 5(3), 158–164. https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.1268

Katz, M., & Nandi, N. (2021). Social Media and medical education in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Scoping review. JMIR Medical Education, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.2196/25892

Riddell, J., Swaminathan, A., Lee, M., Mohamed, A., Rogers, R., & Rezaie, S. (2017). A survey of emergency medicine residents’ use of educational podcasts. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 18(2), 229–234. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2016.12.32850

Prompt: Write about your game experience and connect it explicitly to teaching and learning, as well as principles of and research about multimedia that you are aware of to date.

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I would not consider myself a gamer. My game experience comes from playing Frogger on my parent’s Atari, Duke Nukem on the old family PC circa 1988, or the original Nintendo I had growing up in my pre-teen years. I recently uncovered my old Nintendo from my parents’ storage shed and I have had a blast sharing Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros., and Dr. Mario with my kids! Yet, my gaming days ended in the ’90s.

In my current career as an Instructional Designer, we will sometimes design educational modules using game-based learning, or gamification. I, personally, have mixed feelings about gamification in education; especially in graduate medical education which is the industry in which I work. I recently led a seminar on Teaching with Technology during our recent Academic Boot Camp for our new faculty members, and while I discuss gamification, I suggest using it sparingly.

Kahoot! is a common and easy form of gamification in the classroom. Kahoot! is a program that many students and teachers are very familiar with and often get excited when the addictive Kahoot! melody begins to play. At the root of the program, Kahoot! is a basic group quiz. There are a series of multiple-choice questions, true/false questions, etc. and the students earn points for the correct answers they buzz in on their mobile device or computer. The faster the student buzzes in the correct answer, the more points they receive. At the end of the quiz, there is a celebratory end screen announcing the winner. It’s quite fun. Yet, Kahoot! is primarily geared toward K-12 education and thus should be used sparingly in graduate education.

As mentioned, I work at a graduate medical university and therefore we are always excited to discover innovative examples of medical learning. One of the great examples of gamification in medical education is Septris, which was created by Stanford University. The online Septris game provides a gamified approach to “early sepsis identification and application of evidence-based management (best practice) and evidence-based guidelines.” The students navigate through interactive patient scenarios and try to save the patient before the patient gets sepsis and dies. It is a quick game that forces medical students to think on their toes and allows them to test their knowledge in a safe environment. Septris is an innovative and gamified learning tool for medical students. (https://septris.stanford.edu/)

Gamified learning can be exciting and faculty can be quick to implement it into their course. My advice is to use it sparingly and be sure that the game aligns with your course’s learning objectives. If the game distracts from the learning, or if it’s just the “cool new thing,” that is not a good reason to implement the game activity. The game needs to have value within the course and enhance student learning.

Reflection topic: For this week, write a blog entry about whether your knowledge of multimedia as a concept and the theories behind it has changed as a result of the readings and/or discussion. This should be 500-750 words.

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Of this week’s assigned readings, I found the Mikropoulos et al. (2011) article to be the most interesting and robust on the topic of virtual reality (VR) in education. Considering that the article was published in 2011, this was an exciting article to discover as it is a honeypot of the foundational elements when utilizing VR in education. Yet, now that another ten years have passed, I would be excited to conduct the same research from 2011 to the present.

Educational Virtual Environments (EVEs), as identified by Mikropoulos et al. (2011) using the seven principles outlined by Jonassen (1994). I have not previously discovered articles by Jonassen, and I am eager to follow that rabbit hole in learning more about the principles presented and how they were identified in the research conducted. I am curious to learn how an article from 1994 could potentially be the foundation in identifying virtual reality technology, as this seems to be a very forward-thinking point of view.

It was reassuring to see that this article also addressed the topics of connection, social presence, and engagement. As the technology for virtual reality continues to rapidly evolve, the learner will benefit from the increased social presence and connection from these EVE experiences. Having these social elements factored into the study sets a foundation for future research on the level of student interaction as it relates to the success of the EVE environment.

Additionally, the research foundation provided included pedagogical components including an emphasis on learning objectives. As educators, we must continue to put learning at the forefront, and not lead with the technology but instead lead with the student learning. By identifying the learning objectives early on within the project development, creators are given a roadmap for what they are to create. Additionally, with measurable learning objectives, the success of the project can be quantified.

Mikropoulos et al. (2011) concluded that both students and teachers have a positive attitude toward VR learning environments, immersion and social presence are important factors of a successful VR environment. The authors also outlined that additional research should be conducted concerning avatars and haptics in VR, as well as additional research on exploiting pedagogy within the VR environment.

Based on this week’s readings, my personal views of multimedia (and specifically the VR modality) have not changed, only strengthened. I feel that the current environment sees virtual reality as new technology. While the technology has more or less come to the forefront in the last few years, as the costs have decreased and accessibility has increased, the technology is not new. The focused article by Mikropoulos et al. (2011) was published ten years ago and pulled citations on relative and foundational concepts and theories from decades prior. While the virtual reality for education is not a new concept, how we proceed with the technology within the education space is still groundbreaking. As I move forward with my own research, I was elated to discover this foundational article for which to build upon.

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References

Jonassen, D. H. (1994). Thinking technology: Toward a constructivist design model. Educational Technology, 34(4), 34–37

Mikropoulos, T. A., & Natsis, A. (2011). Educational virtual environments: A ten-year review of empirical research (1999-2009). Computers and Education, 56(3), 769–780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.10.020

Prompt: Please share your best and worst experiences (no more than 400 words) of multimedia for learning.

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It’s hard to imagine anyone who would be unfamiliar with eLearning and multimedia, after the COVID-19 pandemic. The pivot to emergency remote instruction forced nearly all students, teachers, and parents into the deep end of the online learning pool. It was a sink-or-swim moment and many were drowning. Like the rest of the Nation, I, too, was thrust into the realm of online learning. Suddenly the educational theories and past academic knowledge were pushed to the forefront of my mind, and our team did our best to teach faculty about Zoom, learning management systems, online course design, asynchronous learning, HyFlex learning, PowerPoint, Mediasite, TopHat, Kahoot, additional educational technology tools for active learning, and so much more. 

As a trained instructional designer and the Manager of Instructional Design and Learning Development for our university’s teaching and learning center, I had to push myself to be seen as an expert in this field. Luckily, I had a previous career history in digital marketing and web design, so during the emergency pivot to remote learning, my overall familiarity with technology really helped me think on my feet. While we experienced many bumps along the road, the growing pains were necessary to significantly move the needle toward better online learning.

Today, I lead faculty education sessions on any topic related to teaching with technology. I teach a minimum of two classes each month on a different EdTech training topic. While it may be impossible to fully learn every new educational technology app or program that is currently available, I feel in many ways, that I could be an expert in this space. I recently accepted a volunteer appointment from EDUCAUSE to lead a Working Group of academic professionals looking to develop best practices in the creation of a Digital Learning Strategy (DLS). This new working group will redefine the old NGDLE framework to put in place a new strategy that leverages the knowledge gained from our collective experiences during pivot to emergency remote instruction. 

It is an exciting to time be in this field.