Abstract
Introduction: Social Media (SoMe) is used for the rapid dissemination of information and learning but has its limiting factors. An integrated learning model labeled “Neph E Club” was initiated in 2015. Various social media platforms were used to achieve the goal of SoMe education and lifelong learning. A retrospective study was done to analyze this education model. Methods: Six years of experience with Neph E Club’s social media education model allowed us to look back on the essential components of the SoMe model from 2015 to 2021. Objectives, member recruitment, social media platform, content development, and sustainability were among the aspects investigated and analyzed. Its benefits and downsides were also investigated. Results: For the past 6 years, WhatsApp has been used as a SoMe platform. Other approaches such as Twitter, YouTube, dedicated server, and email methods failed to meet the target during the 6 years. There are now 1018 active members in the WhatsApp group. Downloading nephrology education resources from numerous social media learning websites and conference content to construct a 3 TB digital library and 800 GB of developed and shared content. Members were kept informed daily by sharing information gleaned from the digital library. Topics are chosen based on data analysis and group requests. Students and practitioners shared their contents which included case discussion and initiating data collections. The success of this model is reflected by having shared 2550 Audiovisual (AV) Lectures, 26700 journal articles, and 182 case discussions. Viewership numbers on average reach from 1200 to 2500 per month which indicated multiple sharing. ISN India in his presidential speech in 2017 recommended this model. Conclusion: Neph E Club - Integrated model of learning using SoMe and offline digital Nephrology Library is a cost-effective, widely accepted model of learning in India.
Highlights
Social Media (SoMe) is used for the rapid dissemination of information and learning but has its limiting factors
For the past 6 years, WhatsApp has been used as a SoMe platform
Other approaches such as Twitter, YouTube, dedicated server, and email methods failed to meet the target during the 6 years
Summary
Social Media (SoMe) is used for the rapid dissemination of information and learning but has its limiting factors. Various social media platforms were used to achieve the goal of SoMe education and lifelong learning. The importance of social media as a source of learning platform in Nephrology is increasingly being recognized. The social media platform commonly used by nephrology practitioners and academicians include YouTube, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, blogs. Every interaction is under the control of the admin or subscriber of the server who decides the nature of the content. All these rapid changes have shifted learning goals post to digital learning to achieve the goal of lifelong learning [3,4]. Various societies are actively promoting the use of social media in nephrology and training nephrologists for this
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