Mathena Pavan (London Deanery); Lawrence Sherman (Prova Education)

Social media has rapidly gained acceptance as a format for online communication and interaction. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter allow medical educators to engage learners in new and exciting ways throughout the educational continuum. Integrating multiple sources and media allow educators to gain better understanding of learners’ needs and preferences.

This interactive workshop is designed to facilitate the practice uses of social media in needs assessment and outcomes in CME/CPD. The workshop will feature the facilitators guiding the audience through the development of a real time needs assessment using social media platforms.

The audience will be directed to:

• Set a needs assessment strategy
• Utilize real time social media platforms to search for information, developing a specific online presence for the initiative. This will include Facebook searching and live tweeting on Twitter using a hashtag developed for the session.
• Identify advantages and limitations of each platform used
• Create a post-activity strategy for using social media in evaluating outcomes.During the session, a live Twitter stream will be shown on a screen, allowing for worldwide participation.

  At the end of the session, participants will be shown a previously completed project and will be asked to compare and contrast the results with the session outcomes. Finally, an evaluation of the session will take place online and via Facebook and Twitter polls to continue to assess the educational impact; these data will be used for a subsequent publication.

Declaration

Nothing to disclose.