Informatics 2017, 4(2), 8; doi:10.3390/informatics4020008
Preparation for Working in a Knowledge-Based Society: New Zealand Student Nurses’ Use of Social Media
School of Nursing, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
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Academic Editors: Elizabeth Cummings and Carey Mather
Received: 9 March 2017 / Revised: 5 April 2017 / Accepted: 6 April 2017 / Published: 7 April 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Media and Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Education)
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Abstract
The increasing use of social media is revolutionizing the way students learn, communicate and collaborate. Many of the skills used with social media are similar to those needed to work in a knowledge-based society. To better understand student nurses’ use of social media in relation to their learning, an anonymous survey was distributed to all undergraduate nursing students enrolled at one nursing school in New Zealand in 2015. A 75% response rate (n = 226) found that almost all (99%) students use social media outside their studies. However, in relation to their study, 61% use social networking sites (such as Facebook) on a daily basis and only four students (2%) do not use social media at all. Professional networking sites are used far less in relation to study, with 65% not using these networks at all. The most common digital option used to communicate and work with fellow students was online groups and document sharing sites, such as Google docs, were also popular. The study provides a useful baseline on social media use by student nurses. Implications from this study include opportunities for educators to incorporate social media into teaching and learning activities, including its safe and ethical use. View Full-TextKeywords:
student; nursing; education; social media
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
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Honey, M.; Raphael, D. Preparation for Working in a Knowledge-Based Society: New Zealand Student Nurses’ Use of Social Media. Informatics 2017, 4, 8.
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