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Supporting Scholarship in Medical Education: The role of social media and networks

Dr Anne Marie Cunningham, Cardiff Universit

The problem: The model of Excellent Teachers Scholarly Educators Scholars of Education1

suggests three levels of scholarship in medical education. hilst conferences and academic !ournalscan provide the means for scholars of education to reflect and disseminate" it is less clear ho#

scholarship can be supported at other levels. $incher and or%& state that all forms of scholarship

re'uire peer revie# and dissemination but at present there are fe# opportunities for this outside

one(s o#n institution. )nd it has also been suggested that fe# educators even participate in *critical

reflection of day to day teaching+.,

The solution: The tools of #eb &. are ever changing and developing. They include social

boo%mar%ing" social document sharing" micro-/blogging" image and video sharing" and online

conferencing. )s they are free to use the barriers to recording and sharing of reflection on practice

are immensely reduced. 0onversations bet#een colleagues #ith shared interests in different

institutions" even time ones" can occur.

hat happened2 : 3n the past year 3 have been exploring the potential of these tools to form an

online community of medical educators. The core activity has been maintaining a blog on medical

education in #hich 3 have reflected on my practice and received feedbac% from colleagues in

medical education" other healthcare professions" patients and students. 3 have also developed areas

for those interested in medical education to participate in discussions on research and ho# it may

affect their practice. The use of other tools #ill be illustrated.

Strengths2: 4o# cost" rapid feedbac%" open and transparent.

ea%nesses2: 5e# participants can feel s#amped by the plethora of tools available and uncertain ofthe time to invest. )t present there is lo# ta%e-up of social media amongst medical educators as

although #e have a culture of sharing" many do not see the relevance of these tools to their practice.

6pportunities2: 7edical educators can have open and transparent conversations #ith each other"

and also #ith students and patients" about ho# their #or% is developing and refining.

Threats2: $e#" 2institutions are not supportive of process of creating #ea% lin%s and external

net#or%s.

hat is needed2: ) commitment from individuals to pursue scholarship in their teaching" the

dedication of time to this process" and the recognition of the value of this activity by institutions.

$urther evaluation of the benefits to participants.

8eferences:

1. 8oberts T. 7edical Education 8esearch 9 the rhetoric" the reality and future routes. eynote

Speech. )ssociation for 7edical Education in Europe )7EE/; &" , th)ug-,rd

Sep;=rague" 0ech 8epublic.

&. $inchet 8E and or% . =erspectives on the scholarship of teaching.Medical Education.

&?:@;&A,-&AB

,. Sandars and 7c)reavey 7. Ceveloping the scholarship of medical educators: a

challenge in the present era of change.Postgraduate Medical Journal. &D

Sep;,A,/:B?1

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Trigwell K & Shale S (2004) Student learning and thescholarship of university teaching. Studies in igher !ducation"2#:$2%$%'