What’s Up and What’s Down for WhatsApp in Medical Education

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.210930.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

WhatsApp, Education, learning, postgraduate students

Abstract

WhatsApp is a smartphone messenger that employs the users’ existing internet data plan to connect the user to their social as well as learning community. This study aimed to explore the use of the WhatsApp instant messaging as a source of learning for postgraduate students enrolled in Master of Health Professions Education. This mixed method study involved postgraduate students enrolled in Master of Health Professions Education at University of Lahore, Pakistan from January 2017- January 2018. Eighteen students filled the questionnaire after giving informed consent. This was followed by eight individual interviews of students consenting for interview. The findings of the research suggest that the use of WhatsApp instant messaging may assist students in learning as it fosters a social constructivist environment. This environment supported students in reinforcing various concepts by enhancing interaction within the groups, among teachers as well as assimilation of the content material shared. The study concluded that WhatsApp is perceived to be an acceptable supplementary application for educational purposes.

Copyright

© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Noor-i-Kiran Naeem
AU  - Zil E Fatima Naeem
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/10/01
TI  - What’s Up and What’s Down for WhatsApp in Medical Education
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Medical Education (ICME 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1
EP  - 6
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210930.001
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.210930.001
ID  - Naeem2021
ER  -