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    Digital Literacy for Educators and Learners Toolkit

    Social media plays an increasing role in health care delivery.

    This toolkit was designed to assist in creating a dialogue among current and future physicians about social media and issues regarding digital literacy and digital professionalism. It provides a starting ground to help physicians overcome the familiarity gap with social media so that they may facilitate meaningful discussions around this topic with their students and colleagues.

    This set of resources is based on the authors’ collective social media experience and expertise.

    This resource covers the subject matter of digital professionalism and will be one of a variety of toolkits that are part of this digital literacy project.

    Digital Literacy Toolkit Contents and Downloads

    This toolkit contains six cases based on real-life examples chosen to illustrate key concepts involving digital professionalism and social media. Each case includes a set of guiding questions that should help foster discussion about specific points within the case. Source material that the cases are based upon is included for review.

    Review and download the cases

    Each of the six cases also include:

    • Case Commentary – This section serves as a high-level assessment of the case that helps identify general discussion points that are pertinent to the case.  These are presented so that faculty with limited social media experience can facilitate a directed group discussion.
    • Educator Notes – This section directly addresses the case-specific guiding questions.  They serve as a starting point for discussion; more questions can always be added. 
    • Bottom Line – This section includes the take-home points or learning objectives for the case.
    • Toolkit Considerations - These suggested guidelines will help both learners and facilitators get the most out of the toolkit.
    • Bibliography and Summaries – This section includes a curated and annotated reading list that provides further background, context, and commentary for each case.

     

    Suggested User Guidelines

    This toolkit is designed to be flexible to best fit the needs of you and your students. Below are a few options for how to utilize this toolkit. 

    • The faculty member will serve as the moderator/facilitator for the discussion – this can be done in a small group setting or in a lecture-hall setting;
    • In larger settings, students can be broken into smaller groups, with discussions moderated by a student “social media super-user.” Each group can then present a case to the larger group with discussion moderated by the faculty;
    • The cases can be distributed to the students beforehand for preparation. During the session, the moderator/facilitator will use the Case Commentary and Educator Notes as a guide. At the conclusion of the session, the Bottom Line and Bibliography can be distributed to the students; or
    • Alternatively, the Bibliography can be distributed beforehand. During the session, the cases are presented and the students apply the readings to discussing the cases. 
    • Audience response can be integrated to help encourage group discussion.

     

    Toolkit Authors

    This toolkit was authored by a team of physicians from AAMC-member institutions who specialize in the study area of digital professionalism. The case studies in the toolkit come from their experiences and curriculums. The following individuals contributed to this toolkit:

    • Katherine Chretien, M.D., George Washington University
    • Neil Mehta, M.D., Case Western Reserve University
    • Warren Wiechmann, M.D., M.B.A., UC Irvine, School of Medicine
    • Bryan Vartabedian, M.D., Baylor College of Medicine