Social Media Improves Students' Academic Performance: Exploring the Role of Social Media Adoption in the Open Learning Environment among International Medical Students in China

Numerous studies have examined the role of social media as an open-learning (OL) tool in the field of education, but the empirical evidence necessary to validate such OL tools is scant, specifically in terms of student academic performance (AP). In today’s digital age, social media platforms are most popular among the student community, and they provide opportunities for OL where they can easily communicate, interact, and collaborate with each other. The authors of this study aimed to minimize the literature gap among student communities who adopt social media for OL, which has positive impacts on their AP in Chinese higher education. We adopted social constructivism theory (SCT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) to formulate a conceptual framework. Primary data containing 233 questionnaires of international medical students in China were collected in January 2021 through the survey method. The gathered data were analyzed through structural equation modeling techniques with SmartPLS 3. The results revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and interactions with peers have positive and significant influence on OL. In addition, OL was found to have positive and significant influence on students’ AP and engagement. Lastly, engagement showed a positive impact on students’ AP. Thus, this study shows that social media serves as a dynamic tool to expedite the development of OL settings by encouraging collaboration, group discussion, and the exchange of ideas between students that reinforce their learning behavior and performance.

Challenging assumptions about "moving online" in response to COVID-19, and some practical advice

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. COVID-19 is forcing many Universities to close for some time and programmes for medical, allied health, and nursing students are moving online. Based on our extensive collective experience teaching a variety of health professionals in clinical and academic settings, and of online learning, we want to question assumptions that seem apparent to us in some of the discourse around "moving teaching online". We write from the perspective of a team delivering a postgraduate programme for professionals working full time (in most cases) from around the world and different professions; however, we believe the issues raised are applicable to online education in general. There is a practical purpose to confronting these assumptions. It is our aim to help those delivering health professions education avoid some pitfalls that we think would result in poor quality experiences for all concerned. We do not believe that online education is inherently poorer nor, indeed, fundamentally distinct from on-campus education. However, there are certainly important considerations for learning to teach online, and we attempt to highlight some of these. We also provide some advice to those new to teaching online based on our experience, research, and the literature.

Transformation to learning from a distance

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. COVID-19 is a strong disruptive force that has not only influenced our global health and economy but also has changed the way we teach, learn and communicate with our students. It has disturbed the regular education pattern and the standard practices that we adapted over many years. The challenge is beyond changing the mode of delivering instructions from face to face to online. The real challenge is in creating a culture that supports the adoption of innovative practices, which require different skills and competences from the teacher, student, mentor and administrator, and at the same time maintaining the quality of the products. In other words, changing what was exceptional to be the norm over a short period of time. This article describes our approach "Open Learning" in managing such change. Our over-riding philosophy is about ensuring that students have high quality resources, and the enthusiasm and learning skills to benefit from them. At the same time we want to optimise the use of the available online applications and learning management system so that their use is within the capability of our faculty. This paper describes the evolution of our approach and the principles upon which it has been based. Our experiences over the past few months will transform the educational experience of our students over the years to come.

A Review of Programs, Components and Outcomes in Biomedical Research Faculty Development

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

To review, compare and synthesize current faculty development programs and components. Findings are expected to facilitate research that will increase the competency and competitiveness of less-established biomedical research faculty.

METHODS

We reviewed the current literature on research faculty development programs, and report on their type, components, outcomes and limitations.

RESULTS

Nineteen articles met inclusion criteria. There were no prospective studies; most were observational and all lacked a control group. Mentoring was the most successful program type, and guided and participatory learning the most successful enabling mechanism, in achieving stated program goals.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings are limited by the small number of current studies, wide variation in implementation, study design, and populations, and the lack of uniform metrics. However, results suggest that future prospective, randomized studies should employ quantitative criteria, and examine individual, human factors that predict "success."