Social Media for Radiology Education in Gross Anatomy

Two Years of Experience

Liwei Jiang, B.A.
Christopher R. Bailey, M.D.
Krishna Juluru, M.D.
Donna Magid, M.D., M.Ed.
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

March 11, 2016

No relevant disclosures

Objectives

After attending this presentation, the participant will

Appreciate the potential of social media tools in delivering content to learners
Recognize the capabilities and limitations of social media metrics in data analysis

Facebook logo

Representative News Feed screenshot

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Profile

Taylor Swift’s Facebook Page

Facebook Page: reach millions at once

Anatomy + Radiology

Thieme Anatomy figure CT angiogram

Radiology: the way most physicians see anatomy

Johns Hopkins anatomy lab

TeamRads home page

Anatomy Tutor on TeamRads.com

Pull Learning:
Significant Effort Required

TeamRads: separate, non-integrated site

“Yet another system”
“Go to Section X, click on Case Y…”
Challenge to patience and willpower

Need to invert the flow of educational resources

We are making students engage in what I call “pull learning,” where significant effort is required to see the learning material.

Technology makes it worse. Students complain about Blackboard because it takes way too many clicks to log into JHED, launch Blackboard, find the course link, click “Course Materials,” open several layers of folders, download the file, and then open the file. It’s insanity.

TeamRads contributes to the same problem. It’s yet another system to click through when students are told to go to Section X, click on Case Y. The content can’t be downloaded. Even I, one of the Webmasters of TeamRads, dread it when I have to go on TeamRads to find something specific.

Clearly, we need to change the learning paradigm. We need to invert the flow of educational resources.

Push Learning

Goals

Push daily imaging cases in step with anatomy curriculum, directly into the hands of students

Drive learning on all devices
- Computer
- Phone
- Tablet
Reinforce both anatomy and radiology
Foster and measure student engagement
Set up once, run automatically

Target Demographic

Students in JHUSOM Human Anatomy course:

Medical
Biomedical Engineering
Medical & Biological Illustration

N ≈ 140 each year, voluntary participation

Project done twice, 2014 and 2015

$JH Team Rads Facebook Page$

Facebook Like" symbol

Notification with new content

Buffer logo

Buffer integrations

Buffer post scheduling screenshot

Case workflow through Buffer

All cases are carefully de-identified

Structural Limitations

Not everyone uses Facebook
Previous year’s participants not excluded
Facebook Page is public; anyone could participate
Extra participants counted in Facebook’s metrics

Facebook Fan demographics screenshot

Limitations

Not everyone uses Facebook
Previous year’s participants not excluded
Facebook Page is public; anyone could participate
Extra participants counted in Facebook’s metrics

Facebook’s algorithm may broaden content’s visibility
- Possibly undesirable in controlled environment
Participants free to ignore content pushed
Currently unable to directly assess learning enhancement

Future Directions

Reach: Find additional avenues of content delivery
Control: Consider limiting content to target demographic
- Closed group may conflict with openness philosophy
Quality: Improve imaging cases
Responsibility: Incorporate testing to assess impact

Conclusions

Facebook and Buffer

Powerful: Push learning with broad reach
Information-rich: Highly revealing metrics
Natural for users: Fits habits of Digital Natives
Simple for administrators: Set up once, run repeatedly

Well received by students

Widely applicable to other educational scenarios

Acknowledgments

Facebook, Inc.

Buffer

Foundations of Human Anatomy,
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Institute for Excellence in Education

Supported by the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation

Thank You!

Liwei Jiang
liwei.jiang@jhmi.edu

Mentor

Donna Magid, M.D., M.Ed.
dmagid@jhmi.edu