ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Health professional education is being transformed through use of new and emerging technologies. One of the most promising and interesting ways in which education is being changed is through the use of social media. Social media are online tools that are designed to support collaboration, social activity and community building. Social media tools that support the social process of learning are making their way into education in general and are being applied in various ways in health professional education.1,2 In addition to this, Web 2.0 tools have emerged to support networks and communities, allowing for more active student and faculty participation, and as such are rapidly making their way into health education.3 In conjunction with these emerging trends, the understanding that learning is an active and social process has become increasingly recognised in the education of health professionals. Along these lines, problem-based learning and the use of technologies such as simulated patients for training groups of medical and nursing students how to interact in real collaborative settings have now become standard approaches in North America.4
