Turning Information Dissipation into Dissemination: Instagram as a Communication Enhancing Tool during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Abstract

In the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, staff and students at universities worldwide were forced to swiftly adapt to distance learning in order to continue with tertiary education. One of the main challenges we encountered during this period was a marked disconnect between staff and students, leading to lower motivation and engagement by both parties. To address this issue, we explored the social media platform Instagram as an interactive communication channel to engage first-year pharmacy students during an introductory organic chemistry course. This led to the development of @kemipilot, an open Instagram account where student questions were fielded and answered by creating educational images and videos. Despite being a small-scale study, the overwhelmingly positive student response, as well as comparisons between Instagram and the university student forum, suggest that Instagram may be a useful pedagogical tool to complement existing distance learning platforms, even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.