The integration of social media into courses

• DOI: 10.7564/12-fule8
• Publication Date: 2012-05-14T14:20:16Z
• Authors: Lisa Gualtieri; Gillian Javetski; Helen Corless
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; 4. Education; 3. Good health

What are the benefits and drawbacks of integrating social media into higher education and, specifically, graduate medical and health education? In order to explore the answer to this question we conducted a literature search and introduced social media into a course at Tufts University School of Medicine. We report on student surveys that were designed to uncover students’ expectations for, knowledge of, and comfort with social media. Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive when asked about the benefits to learning about social media in an academic setting, which was one of the key questions we sought to answer. We also provide an assessment of social media’s potential from the perspectives of students, faculty, administrators, and people outside the institution.