Instant oats could be good for you…?
How the advent of social media (with the ability to access information instantly) affects healthcare andragogy is currently unclear. The published literature is sparse and broadly appears to reflect biases in two ways, either reflecting the belief that social media platforms are an undeniable force for good in healthcare education, or that the dangers of social media to individuals outweigh the benefits.
There is a belief that data-sorting skills, collaboration and knowledge-sharing, and community identity lead to improvement in academic attainment. Evidence exists for enhanced student engagement and performance in online courses when social media use is encouraged; evidence for medical healthcare performance improvement is currently lacking.
Particular issues include the question of whether higher elements of Bloom’s taxonomy are reached more effectively in this data-rich environment, or whether instant access to unfiltered explanations may lead to negative consequences.
The former may require explicit leveraging of the ‘instant knowledge access’ dynamic.
The latter may include entrenched mis-understood core concepts, lack of appreciation for the need to discuss complex concepts more broadly (immediate gratification akin to gamified learning may lead to a misguided belief of ‘okay, I get that’). Further, the effect of the hidden curriculum (the implicit message that effective learning does not require real-world community engagement), may have unexpected consequences in terms of locally accountable healthcare practice and learning in the setting of continued professional education in later learning.
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Another provocative post, you are becoming a real blogger! 🙂
I really dislike the term andragogy (and “adult learning theory” for that matter), but I shall try not to get distracted by that.
Instead, can I pick up on why social media should be given responsibility for influencing whether people reach the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. I can see that people might be distracted from thinking more about fewer resources, but to an extent this is more to do with whether people can become sufficiently disciplined at navigating these environments for various different purposes, doesn’t it? Of course some people can evaluate, appraise, etc., but they don’t – for me – really do that *within* social media as within a wider environment that includes some encounters with social media?
Thanks Tim and oh dear – I thought this was less provocative! Pedagogy ok? I believe I am using the term social media in a broader sense here, accessing twitter-type communities, but also web-based knowledge through a mobile-device interface. I guess what I am asking is simpler: not that social media is responsible, but rather that the nature of social media, and particular instant access to knowledge and opinions, may change the way our brains actually work. Do we unconsciously believe that our quick access to these resources accelerates our ability to ‘describe’, for example? Do we thus spend less time in reflective thinking? On the other hand, does being able to access information and global peer opinion so quickly, lead to faster attainment of these competencies? I guess a longitudinal study is currently happening, worldwide! As you said early on, previous generations probably expressed similar concerns with the advent of every new technology 🙂