Social+networking+in+FMDHS

=Internet based social networking usage by UWA students. Implications for the use and impact of social networking in teaching.= Aiman Al Sharei and Stuart Bunt.

There is a growing gap in methods of communication and learning between staff and generation Y students. In particular the last five years have seen a great increase in the types and use of online social networking sites. We surveyed their use by 475 first and second year anatomy students in Medicine (142 students), Dentistry (39), Podiatry (15) and Science (176) 43 students were excluded as they were under 18. 25 teaching staff were also surveyed. 415 and 7 questionnaires were returned. Most students were under 25 while staff ranged in age from 42 to 67. 152 were male, 220 female. 87% used a PC, 13% a Mac. 17% were international students.

85% of preclinical and 65% of science students used instant messaging to talk to colleagues., only 30% of staff, similar patterns were seen for the use of social networking sites with over 85% of students in all groups using sites such as Facebook. However only 6% of students and no staff used virtual communities such as Second Life. 91% and 100% use a mobile phone. Significantly more males used instant messaging; our dental and podiatry students appear to use PDAs and phones more often than the other groups to communicate with each other and with staff.

The biggest change we observed over the last few years, compared to published figures, is the explosion in use of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. In our school this has now become the favoured method of communication amongst our postgraduate students, replacing e-mail to a large extent. This presents a challenge for educators who may not be familiar with the new technologies, and not feel comfortable with the seemingly random mix of public and private information on such sites. We also should not forget that 10-20% of our students may NOT have access or use such sites. Even students show mixed feelings, with roughly equal numbers thinking it wasted time and distracted them from their study (68%) as helped them save time and effort (71, 63 and 86%). 90% of students think wireless devices could be useful for education but 80% of medical students and 60% of science students prefer printed material rather than reading on screen.

Perhaps we should look on social networking sites as yet another way to communicate with our students, but not one which can yet completely replace conventional methods. It may become another workload issue if we have to add knowledge, expertise and time to setting up another layer of IT on top of e-mail, WebCT and Lectopia but may also provide new and imaginative ways of communicating with and teaching our students.

Professor Stuart Bunt Professorial Fellow Anatomy and Human Biology Phone 6488 2983 Fax 6488 1051 MBDP M309 Email smbunt@anhb.uwa.edu.au