Journal Club Article: Sherbino, J., Arora, V. M., Van Melle, E., Rogers, R., Frank, J. R., & Holmboe, E. S. (2015). Criteria for social media-based scholarship in health professions education. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 91(1080), 551–555. https://doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2015-133300

Challenge: for clinician educators engaged in social media-based innovations is to appropriately evaluate their work as scholarship.

Education scholarship has been defined as ‘an umbrella term, which can encompass both research and innovation in health professions education.

Process: Criteria developed from the contribution of 52 health professions educators from 20 organisations in 4 countries.

Defined criteria: Social media-based scholarship in health professions education must:

• Be original
• Advance the field of health professions education by building on theory, research or best practice
• Be archived and disseminated
• Provide the health professions education community with the ability to comment on and provide feedback in a transparent fashion that informs wider discussion

Summary: Social media-based scholarship can be innovative and original work that builds on existing theory. However it requires a digital platform to enable feedback from the wider education community. However, not all social media activities meet the standards of scholarship. It’s important to recognize that social media-based scholarship is a legitimate academic pursuit.

Resources

Nursing Education Network. (2024). Social Media Engagement As Scholarship.