Over the last few years, the use of virtual environments for me has shifted from personal social media use to ongoing professional development. As mentioned in my first blog within my e-Portfolio, my primary use of the virtual environment has been for maintaining connection with my family and friends. Through this course, I have appreciated how the use of online learning creates a unique community of practice amongst my peers in this class. This has led me to really reflect on professional development in terms of curating resources and using social media for ongoing education and for sharing knowledge.
As I started to curate my resources during each week’s blog and topic of discussion it really helped me look for different types of resources including videos or infographics. Therefore, the types of resources I have curated are reflective of my professional passion, my personal values and relatable to my cardiac sciences environment. Speiring & Letchtenberg (2021), define “curation as the process of “mak[ing] meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing, and sharing resources of personal relevance”. This process has been a creative one which has allowed the topic of discussion to be adaptable and meaningfully applied and enhanced my learning experience (Youn & Lee, 2021). During the discussions with my peers, I learned from reading about their key interests, therefore shows the power of being connected professionally and sharing meaningful and reputable resources.
Social Media use in this course for me was primarily the creation of my e-Portfolio. The experience in reviewing and reading my peers e-Portfolio’s allowed me to learn about topics from their perspective, specifically the blogs on chronic disease and vulnerable populations. My experience of curation was further expanded during the creation of my resource page to showcase resources I found relevant topics. Hall et al (2021) discusses how the use of social media has been extremely valuable to professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. It really resonated with me that social media “promoted sharing of resources and discussion around the meaning of COVID-19 disruptions for health professional education” and that “through these social media efforts, participants could personalize their professional development, share and acquire knowledge, and engage in global dialogues to address just-in-time needs” (Hall et al 2021).
Over the last few weeks, I have been using LinkedIn to network and as a virtual platform for ongoing professional development. Selecting specific groups to follow to increase my knowledge and share infographics or articles I found very interesting.I am looking forward to continuing and growing my use of virtual platforms and utilizing social media. By selecting chronic cardiac health as my focus in MSHT 601, it allowed me to further identify the various vulnerable patient populations in Alberta. Kreatsoulas (2009) shares that” dissemination of knowledge and the application of effective strategies are essential in improving population health and reducing the burden placed on health care resources[FS1]”. To make this change, we require a multilevel strategy and engagement from public, health care providers and our government. My greatest ‘a-ha moment’ from MSHT 601, how will I continue to use social media platforms to increase awareness on the management of cardiac disease in the elderly women?
Resources
Hall, E., et al. (2021). Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Support a Professional
Learning Network During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Journal of Continuing Education in
the Health Professions, 41(1), 10-12. 10.1097/CEH.000000000000032
Kreatsoulas, C., & Anand, S. (2009). The Impact of Social Determinants on Cardiovascular
Disease. Can J Cardiol 2010;26 (Suppl C):8C-13C. 10.1016/s0828-282x(10)71075-8
Spiering, J., & Lechtenberg, K. (2021). Rethinking Curation. Knowledge Quest, 49(3), 52-53.
Youn, JJ., Jeong, SJ., Lee, KH. et al. (2021). Development and application of a digital
curation system to promote total creative personality based on multimedia. Multimed
Tools Appl ,80, 34369–34387. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-021-11159-6
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