Abstract
This study seeks to explore the use of social media to support the learning of nursing students in Zambia. Data was collected from the WhatsApp and email conversation chats involving 76 nursing students at the University of Zambia School. The content of the conversation chats was analyzed in terms of common themes, patterns and interrelationships. It was established that nursing students can take a leading role in empowering themselves by taking charge of their continued learning by using social media responsibly. Key findings that emerged from the WhatsApp and e-mail discussions are: Knowledge enhancement and sharing of best practices were significant in the WhatsApp Group, Virtual Classroom community, was significantly stronger in the WhatsApp group, WhatsApp group had a minimally more positive placement experience, other measures (social capital/knowledge application/learning dimension community) did not differ significantly. The use of social mobile media is not only limited to professional nurses but also nursing students. As the training of nurse professionals evolves in the midst of high technology use, more and more students may seek to prefer the use of social mobile media as a tool for continuous learning. In comparison to the email platform, students in the WhatsApp were able to maintain conversations up to the end of the allocated period of the study. The information gathered from this project can be useful to fostering a unified understanding of professional knowledge and a feeling of belongingness among nursing students.
Highlights
Social media usage in education has been seen to have great potential
Key findings that emerged from the WhatsApp and e-mail discussions are: Knowledge enhancement and sharing of best practices were significant in the WhatsApp Group, Virtual Classroom community, was significantly stronger in the WhatsApp group, WhatsApp group had a minimally more positive placement experience, other measures did not differ significantly
The authors recognize the role of nursing students in empowering themselves to take charge of their continued learning by using social media responsibly
Summary
Social media is considered as developing communication skills among students and between students and faculty. Incorporating social media into the nurse training programs is likely to allow a diverse group of interested nursing learners to engage in creating and developing content that is significant as well as to gather online and to share knowledge, information and opinions relating to the core aspects of the profession they are embarking on. In view of the fact that nursing is a science and an art, it is imperative that social media technologies are incorporated in nursing education in order to offer the capability to each student to both receive and create content that would lead to lifelong learning
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