Social network sites and mobile phones to educate health professionals in disadvantaged areas. Case studies from Asia and South Africa

Presenter: Christoph Pimmer, FHNW

Partners: Urs Gröhbiel, Sebastian Linxen, Günter Burg, Anil K. Jha, Jennifer Chips

SWISS UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES ı The Annual KFH Information day on Development and Cooperation 7. December 2012, Zurich PHZH 2

Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital Katmandu, Nepal

University Hospital Basel, Switzerland

Manguzi Hospital, South Africa

Thematic focus: education of health professionals in disadvantaged areas

SWISS UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES ı The Annual KFH Information day on Development and Cooperation 7. December 2012, Zurich PHZH

Partners and location of the project

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University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital

University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

SWISS UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES ı The Annual KFH Information day on Development and Cooperation 7. December 2012, Zurich PHZH

Development relevance: MDG 4, 5 and 6

■ Need■ Lack of healthcare skills■ Isolation, low satisfaction,

attrition etc.

■ Expectations■ 5 of 6 billion mobile phones

in developing countries■ Potential for health (and)

education (WHO, The World Bank, ITU; UNESCO, etc.)

Many techno-centric initiatives failed

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SWISS UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES ı The Annual KFH Information day on Development and Cooperation 7. December 2012, Zurich PHZH

Key findings I : educational grass-root use of social mobile media

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Medical professionals in the majority world already use mobile phones and social network sites in creative and unexpected ways

"It is part of my life now […] a means of contact, a means of learning. You know people that have phones just learn a lot. (nurse)

Situated & informal learning by linking information sources to ‘ad-hoc’ inquiry and learning processes

When I am in the Operating Room for example - I don’t have the book so I go to the mobile. (medical student)

Cross-contextual learning by capturing and carrying learning into new situations

"If we have a photo everyone copies." (01). All of us share it to one another. (medical student)

SWISS UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES ı The Annual KFH Information day on Development and Cooperation 7. December 2012, Zurich PHZH

Key findings II: educational grass-root use of social mobile media

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Professional participation and by engaging in international communities of medical doctors and students on Social Network sites .

Facebook is a good medium to share much medical information. (medical teacher)

Engagement with explicit forms of educational contentAnnouncement and negotiation of professional identities

Facebook: explicit forms of educational content

■ Facebook community: «Medical Profession, wow I love it»

34529 members & 3078 FB users are talking about this (17.11.2011)

Regional scope on Nepal and India

■ Quizzes with open and closed questions:

University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

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Facebook: Announcement and negotiation of professional identities

University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

Jokes and expression/ discussion of professional identity

sure im proud and love my work and in good relation with my patient (user)

This pic pretty much describe my life, thanks […] for making me realise I am not the only one feeling crap right now. (user)

Academic and practical impact

Academic impact■ Academic outlets: publications in peer-reviewed journals (British

Journal of Educational Technology, Medical Teacher etc.)■ Academic conferences/roundtables (e.g. International Roundtable

on Social Networking and Mobile Media, University of London)

Practical impact■ Integration in curricula in the areas observed■ Invited to bring in results in global policy making processes

■ World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva) ■ United Nations-GETHealth Summit, New York (forthcoming)■ ….

SWISS UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES ı The Annual KFH Information day on Development and Cooperation 7. December 2012, Zurich PHZH 9

SWISS UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES ı The Annual KFH Information day on Development and Cooperation 7. December 2012, Zurich PHZH

Contact and Bibliography

■ Christoph Pimmer, learning.lab, IWI, HSW, FHNW■ https://blogs.fhnw.ch/m4healtheducation/ (Project blog)■ https://blogs.fhnw.ch/learninglab/ (Company Website)■ christoph.pimmer@fhnw.ch (email)■ http://www.christoph.pimmer.info (personal website)

- https://twitter.com/#!/christophpimmer - www.slideshare.net/ChristophPimmer- http://fhnw.academia.edu/ChristophPimmer

■ References■ Pimmer, C., Linxen, S., & Gröhbiel, U. (2012). Facebook as a learning tool? A case study

on the appropriation of social network sites along with mobile phones in developing countries. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(5), 726-738. Linxen, S., & Pimmer, C. (2011).

■ Pimmer, C., Linxen, S., Gröhbiel, U., Jha, A., & Burg, G. (2012). Mobile learning in resource-constrained environments. A case study of medical education. DOI:10.3109/0142159X.2012.733454. Medical Teacher.

■ The transformational role of social mobile media on education and learning in developing countries. Paper presented at the International Roundtable on Social mobile networking for informal learning.

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