This is the published version of the article: Hinojo-Lucena, F.J.; Aznar Díaz, Inmaculada; Cáceres-Reche, M.P.; [et al.]. «Use of social networks for international collaboration among medical students Uso de redes sociales para la colaboración internacional entre estudiantes de medicina». Educacion Medica, Vol. 21 Núm. 2 (marzo 2020), p. 137-141. DOI 10.1016/j.edumed.2018.08.009 This version is available at https://ddd.uab.cat/record/237645 under the terms of the license Educ Med. 2020;21(2):137---141 EducaciónMédica www.elsevier.es/edumed ORIGINAL ARTICLE Use of social networks for international collaboration among medical students Francisco-Javier Hinojo-Lucena, Inmaculada Aznar-Díaz, María-Pilar Cáceres-Reche, José-María Romero-Rodríguez ∗ Department of Didactic and School Organization of the University of Granada, Spain Received 24 May 2018; accepted 10 August 2018 Available online 30 October 2018 KEYWORDS Abstract Social networks; Introduction: The collaboration between professionals from different countries has become a Collaborative claim in the globalised world where we live. In this scenario, collaborative social networks play learning; a fundamental role in bringing people from different territories together in the same virtual Students; space that it favours the exchange of information. Medicine degree Objective: To analyse the use and integration of social networks to favour international collab- oration between medical students from the University of Granada (Spain) and the University of Sheffield (UK). Methodology: A quantitative methodology has been used using a questionnaire developed ad hoc to quantify the degree of student satisfaction after participation in the collaborative social network. The sample was composed of 110 students of the degree in medicine, 74 from the University of Granada and 36 from the University of Sheffield. Results: We find high percentages according to the improvement of learning from collabora- tion, as well as the relevance for the exchange of information and collaborative work between countries. Conclusion: This type of experience highlights the need to collaborate from digital networks with health professionals from other countries to improve student learning and know different methods and systems of action that improve daily medical practice. © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: romejo@ugr.es (J.-M. Romero-Rodríguez). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edumed.2018.08.009 1575-1813/© 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Descargado para Anonymous User (n/a) en Autonomous University of Barcelona de ClinicalKey.es por Elsevier en marzo 15, 2021. Para uso personal exclusivamente. No se permiten otros usos sin autorización. Copyright ©2021. Elsevier Inc. Todos los derechos reservados. 138 F.-J. Hinojo-Lucena et al. PALABRAS CLAVE Uso de redes sociales para la colaboración internacional entre estudiantes de Redes sociales; medicina Aprendizaje Resumen colaborativo; Introducción: La colaboración entre profesionales de diferentes países se ha convertido en un Estudiantes; reclamo en el mundo globalizado donde vivimos. En este escenario, las redes sociales colabo- Grado en medicina rativas juegan un papel fundamental al reunir a personas de diferentes territorios en el mismo espacio virtual para favorecer el intercambio de información. Objetivo: Analizar el uso y la integración de las redes sociales para favorecer la colaboración internacional entre estudiantes de medicina de la Universidad de Granada (España) y la Uni- versidad de Sheffield (Reino Unido). Metodología: Se ha utilizado una metodología cuantitativa empleando un cuestionario ad hoc para cuantificar el grado de satisfacción del estudiante después de participar en la red social colaborativa. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 110 estudiantes del grado de medicina, 74 de la Universidad de Granada y 36 de la Universidad de Sheffield. Resultados: Encontramos altos porcentajes de acuerdo con la mejora del aprendizaje a partir de la colaboración, así como la relevancia para el intercambio de información y el trabajo colaborativo entre países. Conclusiones: Este tipo de experiencia resalta la necesidad de colaborar desde redes digitales con profesionales de la salud de otros países para mejorar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes y conocer diferentes métodos y sistemas de actuación que mejoran la práctica médica diaria. © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. Este es un artı́culo Open Access bajo la licencia CC BY-NC-ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Introduction students affirm that the use of a virtual network improves the teaching-learning process and that social networks Social networks have become an element of our day-to-day favour collaborative work. life, not only for leisure time but also for other purposes, In the field of medical studies social networks play a such as access to information and the establishment of fundamental role for collaborative learning, since access to networks of contacts with people from all over the world information and knowledge of other professionals in the field for academic and/or professional purposes. The connection of health affect continuous medical learning.6 Thus, several between different people through the network with the previous investigations7,8 on the use of social networks to same objective is generating collaborative learning where improve learning in medical studies highlight its positive and physical and temporal barriers do not matter. beneficial use. In this sense, the research about the creation These virtual environments stand out for their dynamism of a Facebook group with 300 students of physiology,8 high- and ease for the exchange of information that allows light there was self-regulation of learning by the students, students to generate common meanings and, therefore, collaborative learning and the improvement of class atten- develop a collective intelligence.1 In the universities around dance. Similarly, in the work of Ratib et al.7 confirms that the world, ICTs are being applied in the teaching of stu- social networks are suitable for the exchange of information dents, according to the paradigm shift in which the student between groups of health professionals and doctors. is an active part of their learning. To which are added the In summary, the use of social networks to generate col- demands of the labour market about the importance of gen- laborative work groups is a successful practice for improving erating collaborative networks between professionals from the learning of university students of medicine. This learn- the same field and other areas (interdisciplinary). However, ing will have an impact on their subsequent professional the use of social networks in teaching implies the participa- performance in line with some countries such as Denmark tion and guidance of teachers as support for students.2 and Sweden, where it is already common practice for family On the other hand, the importance of collaborative doctors to share information and knowledge through collab- learning among health professionals lies in research such as orative learning groups.9 the one carried out on collaborative learning in retention of knowledge taught in ethics and professionalism in a class Method of general medicine3 with 38 students of final MBBS, which states that collaborative learning has a greater effect on The research project developed is framed within a quan- the retention of knowledge than individual learning. Social titative methodology, with a descriptive character.10 The networks are a stimulus to promote collaborative learning, purpose of this study was to analyse the use and integration since the application of digital networks in the University of social networks to promote international collaboration allows working in a group and in collaboration.4 In the among medical students from the University of Granada same line, Trujillo et al.5 state in their study that 78% of (Spain) and the University of Sheffield (UK). The sample has Descargado para Anonymous User (n/a) en Autonomous University of Barcelona de ClinicalKey.es por Elsevier en marzo 15, 2021. Para uso personal exclusivamente. No se permiten otros usos sin autorización. Copyright ©2021. Elsevier Inc. Todos los derechos reservados. Social networks medical collaboration 139 Table 1 Factor analysis with extraction principal component analysis method. Component Value Sums of saturations Sums of saturations to the square of the extraction to the square of the rotation Total % variance % accumulated Total % variance % accumulated Total % variance % accumulated 1 2.258 22.578 22.578 2.258 22.578 22.578 1.687 16.869 16.869 2 1.308 13.077 35.655 1.308 13.077 35.655 1.608 16.083 32.952 3 1.125 11.252 46.907 1.125 11.252 46.907 1.343 13.431 46.383 4 1.060 10.602 57.509 1.060 10.602 57.509 1.113 11.126 57.509 5 .985 9.848 67.357 6 .894 8.936 76.293 7 .861 8.608 84.900 8 .688 6.880 91.781 9 .476 4.671 96.452 10 .355 3.548 100.000 been composed of 110 students of the degree in medicine, in specific 41 women and 69 men divided into 74 of the 12.4% University of Granada and 36 of the University of Sheffield. Regarding the instrument, an ad hoc questionnaire was applied based on Likert scale of 4 levels (totally disagree, 43.8% 68.1% None disagree, agree and totally agree). The questionnaire was Contact with tutors composed of 66 items and was structured in 3 dimensions Access issues referring to student expectations, use of ICT and assess- Ignorance ment/satisfaction. In relation to reliability, it was obtained Connection issues ˛ = 0.843 points in the Cronbach’s Alpha test and 0.801 in Tasks the Guttman’s test two halves, so the internal consistency 31.3% 8% of the instrument is quite high. 28.2% For the statistical analysis, it was used the SPSS quanti- tative analysis software version 24. A factorial analysis was performed using the PCA method with Kaiser variable rota- tion ‘‘Varimax’’, to highlight those areas of prevalence and Figure 1 Main problems of students with the use of the social the possible groupings of the factors that make up the ques- network. tionnaire. Prior to the factor analysis, Bartlett’s sphericity 100 test includes a chi-square of 424.15, 43 gl., With a signifi- 94.5% cance of .000 and a KMO index of 0.68 points, being more 90 than acceptable based on statistical criteria.11 80 The principal component method used explains the total 70 variability of each component, in this sense 4 factors explain the questionnaire (training in ICT and social networks, use of 60 learning platform, expectations of the learning community 50 and assessment of collaborative work and virtual tutorials), with 10 variables that present a total of 57.509% of the 40 variance (Table 1). 30 20 Results 10 5.5% 0 If we look at the most significant results about the collab- Positive Negative oration through the social networks of the students of both universities. First, regarding the problems derived from the Figure 2 Valuation of learning perceived by medical students use of the social network, the majority of responses are from the use of the social network. concentrated in none (68.1%), although the biggest prob- lem has been the one derived from the connection to the generated from the collaboration between universities in network (43.8%). To a lesser extent, the difficulties detected the social network, while only 5.5% state that it has been by medical students have been related to ignorance (31.3%), negative (Fig. 2). access issues (28.2%), tasks (12.4%) and contact with tutors Regarding the score obtained in different dimensions (8%) (Fig. 1). related to the use of the social network, the positive On the other hand, the assessment of students has been average is verified in all of them with values above 4, very positive (94.5%) regarding the learning that has been oscillating the range between 0 and 5 points. Thus, in Descargado para Anonymous User (n/a) en Autonomous University of Barcelona de ClinicalKey.es por Elsevier en marzo 15, 2021. Para uso personal exclusivamente. No se permiten otros usos sin autorización. Copyright ©2021. Elsevier Inc. Todos los derechos reservados. 140 F.-J. Hinojo-Lucena et al. 5 4.8 4.69 4.37 4.05 4.04 4.16 4.06 4 3 2 1 0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 Figure 3 Score obtained in the different dimensions related to the use of the social network. 100 100 90 90 80 77% 80 72% 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 22% 20 18% 20 10% 10 10 0% 1% 0% 0 0 Totally disagree Disagree Agree Totally agree Totally disagree Disagree Agree Totally agree Figure 4 Possibility of generating collaborative networks Figure 5 Learning content through the social network. between students from anywhere. countries. In relation to the difficulties encountered in its dimension 1 ‘‘adaptation of the social network for learn- application, the most notable internal difficulty is ignorance ing’’ (D1) was obtained a value of 4.05 points, in dimension (31.3%), which denotes a lack of training in the students. In 2 ‘‘relevance of the resources used to establish collabo- such a way, before that when applying some kind of collab- ration in the network’’ (D2) 4.04 points, in dimension 3 orative social network it is necessary to impart a previous ‘‘collaboration among students’’ (D3) 4.37 points, in dimen- training for its use. sion 4 ‘‘planning of group activities’’ (D4) 4.16 points, in Regarding the improvement of learning based on collab- dimension 5 ‘‘involvement of teachers’’ (D5) 4.06 points, oration between universities, 94.5% of students state that in dimension 6 ‘‘information exchange and collaborative it has been a positive experience, in line with the results work’’ (D6) 4.8 points, being the factor that obtains the of the research by Trujillo et al.5 where the majority of stu- highest score and in the dimension 7 ‘‘valuation of the social dents affirms that the social network improves learning. This network to favour the collaboration of students from differ- indicator is found in the adaptation dimension of the social ent universities’’ (D7) 4.69 points (Fig. 3). network for learning (D1) with a value of 4.05 points (0 being Regarding the possibility that allows the social network the minimum and 5 the maximum). used to establish contact with medical students from any- On the other hand, students highlight the relevance of where in the world, with the purpose of collaborate on the resources to establish collaboration in the network (D2) with same project, the answers are placed in a percentage of 99% a positive value of 4.04, so the application of social net- agreement (77% totally agree and 22% agree) (Fig. 4). works in the University are an excellent resource to favour Finally, the opinion of the students about the use of the collaboration.4 If we look at the dimensions D3 (4.37), D6 social network to facilitate the learning of contents is col- (4.8) and D7 (4.69) all of them obtain scores close to the lected, where a majority agreement percentage is obtained maximum value, confirming that the social network favours (90%), which is divided into 72% totally agree and 18% agree. collaborative learning as in previous studies with medical On the contrary, only 10% state that they are disagree students.7,8 (Fig. 5). Regarding the involvement dimension of the teaching staff (D5), the value obtained is high (4.06 points), it high- lighting the need for teachers to become involved as a Discussion participant, moderating and guiding students’ learning in the network.2 The results obtained show a similar scenario to that of previ- In the planning of activities (D4), the score of 4.16 points ous research, which exposes the advantages and benefits of indicates that the social network facilitates planning among social networks to promote collaborative learning and infor- students, in the same way almost the whole (99%) is in mation exchange between medical students from different agreement with the use of the social network to generate Descargado para Anonymous User (n/a) en Autonomous University of Barcelona de ClinicalKey.es por Elsevier en marzo 15, 2021. Para uso personal exclusivamente. No se permiten otros usos sin autorización. Copyright ©2021. Elsevier Inc. Todos los derechos reservados. 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