Understanding the Context of Learning in an Online Social Network for Health Professionals' Informal Learning

Authors

Xin Li, University of Melbourne
Kathleen Gray, University of Melbourne
Karin Verspoor, University of Melbourne
Stephen Barnett, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

113933

Publication Details

Li, X., Gray, K., Verspoor, K. & Barnett, S. (2017). Understanding the Context of Learning in an Online Social Network for Health Professionals' Informal Learning. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 235 353-357.

Abstract

Online social networks (OSN) enable health professionals to learn informally, for example by sharing medical knowledge, or discussing practice management challenges and clinical issues. Understanding the learning context in OSN is necessary to get a complete picture of the learning process, in order to better support this type of learning. This study proposes critical contextual factors for understanding the learning context in OSN for health professionals, and demonstrates how these contextual factors can be used to analyse the learning context in a designated online learning environment for health professionals.