Maged N.

Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 1 of 8

NAQAAE Workshop Proposal 23 April 2010
From Dr. Maged N. Kamel Boulos, University of Plymouth, UK
maged.kamelboulos@plymouth.ac.uk
Office tel: +44 (0)1752 586530 - Mobile: +44 (0)7930 674291

Day 1:
Themes:
Networked Social Media in Learning and Teaching (contexts: higher education; medicine
and healthcare, including patient education and clinicians' collaboration and CPD
Continuing Professional Development)
Networked Social Media in Research (both as a focus for research and as tools/enablers in
research)
Format: Interactive. Includes: PowerPoint presentations, a brief online demonstration of some
relevant tools, opportunities for Q&A/discussions, and a small-group activity/reflection exercise.
Please refer to Appendix A for useful background information about the above themes and the
range of topics and collaboration areas that can possibly be introduced/discussed (some very briefly
and others more extensively, depending on audiences preferences and interests) during Day 1.

Day 2 (improving the quality of education in general):
Theme:
Delivering world-class higher education with emphasis on key skills (generic, transferable
skills):
1
Boosting the employability of our students in a rapidly (and continuously) changing
and highly competitive global workforce market
Working motto for Day 2: Equipping our students with the arts and skills of utilization of knowledge
rather than with knowledge per se
Format: Same as Day 1 (see above)
Please refer to Appendix B for some useful background information about the above theme and the
range of topics that can possibly be introduced during Day 2.


1
Key skills include (for all students): Writing Skills; Information Skills; Communication Skills; Working with
Others; IT (Information Technology) Skills; Working with Numbers; Solving Problems; Improving Learning
(time management); Career Management (decision making); among others. For postgraduate research
students, a wider and more complex range of generic, transferrable skills is needed (please refer to
Appendix B for details).
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 2 of 8
Appendix A (Day 1) [see also related papers in the attached zip archive]
Social Web or Networked Social Media (NSM)
2
are mediated
environments where people (including students in higher
education) can use their computer or mobile phone to connect
with others, share information, and generate content, among
other things. Example tools include social network sites, e.g.,
MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn; media sharing platforms, e.g.,
YouTube, Flickr; blogging and micro-blogging (e.g., Twitter);
social bookmarking; and 3-D virtual worlds and virtual globes.
Practices involved in NSM include tagging (using loose, user-
created vocabularies or folksonomies), user generated
content, copy/paste code creation, and code and content
remixing (mashups). Many universities, as well as health and
social care providers, particularly in the US, are already using
NSM extensively, e.g., the US CDCCenters for Disease
Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/ -
Figure on the right), as well as a good number of hospitals
(e.g., list at http://ebennett.org/hsnl/). Even organisations
with the strictest Internet access and use policies and
regulations in place could not bypass the latest NSM wave, e.g., the US DoDDepartment of
Defense (http://socialmedia.defense.gov/).
The technologies that enable NSM are rapidly changing the way we interact with others, get
information, and do business in the higher education and health and social care sectors. NSM are
enablers of participatory learning, participatory healthcare and of patient-centred care in which
students' and patients' engagement and empowerment are keys to improving educational (in case of
students) and clinical (in case of patients) outcomes.

Patients' self-help also has a strategic importance in that it can help relieve some of the increasing
burden on the already constrained conventional healthcare systems (e.g., acute care hospitals).
However, engaging patients in care poses many challenges.
3
The least difficult of these challenges is
related to access. A recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the California
HealthCare Foundation found that people fighting chronic illnesses are less likely than others to have
Internet access, but once online they are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions
about health problems.
4
Other much-tougher-to-address challenges include the potential of NSM to
spread misinformation (Scanfeld et al., 2010)
5
and the related difficulties in controlling the quality of
the very vast amounts of user generated content.


2
NSM are sometimes inaccurately referred to as "Web 2.0". Such versioning of the Web is better
avoided. As Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, would say, the Web has been conceived as a
social medium and a sharing and communication platform from the very start. It just grew more popular,
affordable and usable over the past two decades, to become what we have today and what we currently
observe as the prominent social aspects and opportunities of the Web. But the core principles and
concepts of online communities and users' sharing, repackaging and repurposing of online content have
always been there in one form or another since the very early days of the Web (e.g., the first wiki,
WikiWikiWeb, appeared 16 years ago, in 1994) and even predate the Web (e.g., could be recognised in
the 1980s CompuServe dialup service).
3
See, for example:
http://www.ashp.org/import/news/HealthSystemPharmacyNews/newsarticle.aspx?id=3308 and
http://e-patients.net/archives/2010/03/why-is-participatory-medicine-such-a-tough-sell.html
4
See http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Chronic-Disease.aspx
5
See http://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(10)00034-9/abstract and http://tinyurl.com/ylj9l4s
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 3 of 8
Similarly, engaging students in participatory learning using NSM tools has got its own challenges.
How do we make best use of NSM to enhance our learning and teaching? We always need to
remember that pedagogy rather than technology should always be the main driver and formulator
for change.

Research is still needed to answer many questions and address various issues associated with the
use of NSM in health and social care; for example (not an exhaustive list):

1. Establishing the evidence regarding the use of NSM in higher education, health, healthcare and
social care/establishing and informing best practices in this respect: Measuring and tracking the
uptake of NSM in the higher education and health and social care sectors. How many universities
(medical schools) and healthcare providers are using social media and what are the motivations
behind getting started, etc. Exploring how NSM may be used in online learning communities and
integrated into existing e-learning tools; how NSM may provide a venue to identify misuse or
misunderstanding of health/clinical information, promote positive behaviour change, disseminate
valid information, and explore how such tools can be used to gather real-time health data for
surveillance purposes (see '3' below).

2. Identifying and researching associated barriers/problems and workarounds: e.g.:
2.a legal
6
and ethical issues (copyrights, privacy, provider's liability, cyber-harassment,
protecting vulnerable groups, etc.);
2.b technology and tools issues, e.g., NSM standards and interoperability, as well as user
interface issues with the transition from the PC era (desktops and full-size notebooks) to the
mobile era (small form factor Internet devices), which together with the very heterogeneous
spectrum of NSM modalities, have direct implications on how Social Web applications and
experiences should be designed and prescribed, so that students (m-learning or mobile
learning), members of the general public, patients, and clinicians, including users with special
accessibility needs, such as older people/people with disabilities and students with special
learning needs, can all participate, make best use of social media in their health/social care and
their education (for students), and no one is excluded (eInclusion); and
2.c knowledge management/Semantic Web issues (e.g., how to make folksonomies more
reliable and consistent to improve NSM resource discovery and retrieval, and semantic wikis
7
),
among other issues.

3. How various disciplines, technologies and applications have been affected by, and are affecting,
NSM: e.g., GIS (Geographic Information Systems), once the exclusive domain of highly
specialised/skilled scientists and professionals have been "wikified" for the masses (neogography),
paving the way for many participatory GIS applications, location-aware services, and geo-mashups in
health and public health.
8
Other domains that have been reshaped by NSM include
cybermedicine/cyberhealth (mass health education of the public, including members of the public
educating and supporting each other), e.g., sexual health education in virtual worlds,
9
and higher
education/e-learning, e.g., novel teaching methods with Twitter (see Box 1 below). Public health
and environmental surveillance have also been significantly affected by NSM, forming the new
emerging field of infodemiology and infosurveillance/technosocial predictive analytics that uses
aggregated, real-time NSM feeds (e.g., blog posts and tweets from whole populations), NSM mining
methods, and virtual worlds/participatory GIS among other things to monitor population health

6
Setback for scientists conducting Social Web mining research: http://tinyurl.com/ye3ab5b
7
MNK Boulos, 2009: http://dx.doi.org/10.4304/jetwi.1.1.94-96
8
See, for example, MNK Boulos et al., 2008: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2491600/
9
See, for example, MNK Boulos and Toth-Cohen, 2009: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-
1842.2008.00831.x
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 4 of 8
trends and perform various public health, environmental health and national security surveillance
tasks (e.g., early detection of bioterrorist attacks and of disease outbreaks).
10


4. Virtual worlds and social networks can act as large social research lab like never before: They
offer social scientists, psychologists and educationalists an unparalleled opportunity to study and
model human (incl. student) behaviour in both the physical and online worlds. Issues that can be
investigated here include how learning happens in NSM, society and identity work in NSM, NSM
avatars as forms of self-representation, how we perceive other people online, what a virtual crowd
looks like, how social conventions develop in NSM (various NSM modalities will yield different
answers), what are people's incentives for spreading information and how and why do they
distribute content (e.g., "viral" videos on YouTube), how (and how fast) misinformation gets rectified
in NSM channels ("Darwikinism"), and how can we understand and harness the flows of content in
the context of everyday health and social care practices and needs.






Box 1: Top 10 uses of Twitter for education
(Excerpts from: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html)

1. Twit Board Notify students of changes to course content, schedules, venues or other important
information.

2. Summing Up Ask students to read an article or chapter and then post their brief summary or prcis of
the key point(s). A limit of 140 characters demands a lot of academic discipline.

3. Twit Links Share a hyperlink a directed task for students each is required to regularly share one
new hyperlink to a useful site they have found.

4. Twitter Stalking Follow a famous person and document their progress. Better still if this can be linked
to an event (During the recent U.S. Presidential elections, many people followed @BarackObama and
kept up to date with his speeches, etc).

5. Time Tweet Choose a famous person from the past and create a twitter account for them choose an
image which represents the historical figure and over a period of time write regular tweets in the role of
that character, in a style and using the vocabulary you think they would have used (e.g. William
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar).

6. Micro Meet Hold discussions involving all the subscribing students. As long as everyone is following
the whole group, no-one should miss out on the Twitter stream. All students participate because a
sequence of contributors is agreed beforehand.

7. Micro Write Progressive collaborative writing on Twitter. Students agree to take it in turns to
contribute to an account or story over a period of time.

8. Lingua Tweeta Good for modern language learning. Send tweets in foreign languages and ask
students to respond in the same language or to translate the tweet into their native language.

9. Tweming Start off a meme agree on a common hash-tag so that all the created content is
automatically captured by Twemes or another aggregator.

10. Twitter Pals Encourage students to find a Twitter penpal and regularly converse with them over a
period of time to find out about their culture, hobbies, friends, family etc. Ideal for learning about people
from other cultures.

10
See, for example, MNK Boulos et al., 2010: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpb.2010.02.007
(technologies for automated or semi-automated, reliable harvesting, filtering and aggregation of social
media feeds and for analysing the aggregates (in real time/near real time and/or periodically) to provide
meaningful insights, e.g., dashboards identifying: disease trends/unfolding outbreaks, the spread of
misinformation about drugs or other health-related issues in NSM, information gaps and needs, etc.)
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 5 of 8
Appendix B (Day 2)
"Education is the acquisition of the art of the utilization of knowledge."
--Alfred North Whitehead, The Aims of Education and Other Essays
(notice that it is NOT "the acquisition of knowledge")
I strongly share the opinions of Professor Charles Bryce of Napier University School of Life Sciences
(Scotland) regarding content design. Quoting him in one of his recent conference papers:
11
"In terms
of educating our students at present and in the future, we clearly have to tackle the thorny issue of
curriculum content, hence the
earlier review of curriculum
content. Because of the rapid
and extensive increase in
knowledge in the subject
matter, we have tended to
concentrate on factual
information and to
overemphasize this with our
students one only has to look
to final exam papers to see that
this is indeed the case! This has
resulted in information
overload and has been shown
to be a disservice to our
students particularly since the
average half-life of the
information that we are
exposing them to is of the order
of 4-5 years hardly sufficient
to see them through their
subsequent careers. Clearly
what is required is for us to
teach our students 'how to
learn' from the vast array of
information that is available. In
this way they have the
opportunity to develop their
own processing, problem-posing and problem-solving abilities and it is these skills which will serve
them well in incorporating further new information and concepts as these arise and in adapting to
inevitable and inexorable change."
I also particularly like Professor Bryce's water tap/bottle metaphor (also presented in
11
), and have
quickly created the above photomontage to illustrate it. The bottle (finite capacity) represents
students, and water represents information and knowledge we are trying to put in their heads.
Overflow = information overload.
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 6 of 8
The main message the water tap/bottle metaphor is trying to convey is the need for educational
content designers and authors to be carefully selective in deciding what they want their students to
learn by the end of a particular course of study (what to put in the "bottle with finite capacity") and
to place stronger emphasis on those key skills (I call them "survival" skills) that will continue to be
transferable and usable many years ahead, even after the current knowledge becomes obsolete.
Transferrable skills for postgraduate research students
There is a growing need for science and medicine graduates to acquire additional skills in "non-
scientific" discipline areas. According to Bryce,
11
a recent report released by the US National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) advocated the inclusion of elective courses in business, law, education,
and public policy into the curriculum for all scientists seeking doctoral degrees. The NAS Committee
on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPUP) specifically promotes the training of PhDs in a
broader range of skills in order to make PhDs more adaptable in a changing and complex job market.
The broad topic areas deemed essential for this purpose (business, law, education and public policy)
subsume such considerations as communication skills, formulating professional goals, mentoring,
data management, fiscal issues, technology transfer, licensing, entrepreneurship, assessment of
commercial potential, business plan development, venture capital, stock market issues, strategic
management, corporate decision making, deal structures, etc. (many of the previous items are very
relevant in medicine, healthcare practice and health informatics). Bryce mentioned the example of a
graduate course taught in the biochemistry department at Duke University (North Carolina, US) and
entitled "The Behaviour of Biochemists". This course teaches future scientists communication skills
including how to formulate professional goals, how to apply for research funding, what to look for in
mentors, and even how to accept constructive criticism. Also a Master's programme in
biotechnology at Northwestern University (Illinois, US) requires coursework in business issues, as
well as in scientific methods and research.
The UK Research Councils have recommended that research students should spend 10 days per year
in generic skills training (75 hours). The general requirements are to develop skills in the following
areas: Research Skills and Techniques, Research Environment, Research Management, Personal
Effectiveness, Communication Skills, Networking and Teamworking, and Career Management.
12

What employers look for?
"Competence-based recruitment" has become a common phrase nowadays in the job market.
Recruiters use competences such as team working, problem-solving and leadership skills as selection
criteria because they are the skills that employers know are essential for success on the job and for
career progression. TARGET IT 2004
13
lists the following core competences: (1) communication
(keeping verbal and written communication clear, concise and confident; understanding your
audience and tailoring your communication; listening to and considering the views of others); (2)
teamwork (building and maintaining positive working relationships; sharing information with others;

11
Bryce CFA. Education and Training Requirements for the Modern Biotechnology Industry. In:
Proceedings of Saudi Bio 2004 International Biotechnology Conference, Jeddah, 10-12 May 2004 (p. 34-
37)
12
See: http://www.transkills.ed.ac.uk/aboutus.htm
13
Anonymous. TARGET IT 2004Edition 7. Oxon, UK: GTI Specialist Publishers, 2004, p.8-9 ("Know what
recruiters want")
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 7 of 8
supporting others and showing respect for alternative views); (3) business awareness
(demonstrating knowledge of the sector, the employer and its competitors; understanding key
business issues and their commercial impact); (4) drive and motivation (showing determination to
achieve an end result; demonstrating optimism and enthusiasm even when the going gets tough);
(5) problem solving (displaying a logical and analytical approach to problem solving; viewing
problems from a number of angles); (6) planning and organization (planning work and delivering it
on time); and (7) leadership potential (considering and identifying what motivates others; leading by
example).
Incorporating key skills in our teaching (some random thoughts)
Reflective practice: Regularly questioning and evaluating our teaching in order to improve our long-
term educational outcomes (e.g., our graduates' employability) and match employers' and industry
expectations and requirements in this respect. The latter also need to be assessed at regular
intervals.
Mapping course descriptions and learning objectives (outcomes) to key skills: This involves cross
referencing Learning Outcomes to the sorts of "generic" Skills being or expected to be developed by
putting an abbreviation at the end of each Learning Outcome to indicate what sort of Skill that
Learning Outcome is addressing (taught and assessed and/or partially taught/facilitated). (Skill
abbreviations I use are: Writing Skills (WS); Information Skills (IS); Communication Skills (CS);
Working with Others; (WWO); IT Skills (ITS); Working with Numbers (WWN); Solving Problems (SP);
Improving Learning (time managementTM); Career Management (decision makingDM).)
Embedding research and practical relevance in our courses. Curriculum and content authors should
also strive to promote and stimulate lateral thinking, intuition and creativity (all of which are
transferrable and problem solving skills) in their students rather than just vertical linear thinking and
memorization/regurgitation of facts.
Integrating the use of appropriate technologies to facilitate key skills acquisition: For example, the
addition of synchronous interaction to distance education, e.g., audio conferencing, enables the
integration of communication into the structure of what are otherwise asynchronous distance
learning courses, resulting in students being actively able to practice and negotiate live
communication situations (that would be impossible in a purely asynchronous setting), as well as an
increase in technology literacy among students who are introduced to Web conferencing (both are
key skills).
Adopting iterative (action research) and systems approaches to curriculum design and content
development: Course content objectives should be adapted to the context of, and be in harmony
with, the Who (characteristics of students), What, Where, Delivery Media and Methods, and
Evaluation/Assessment of the course in question (and the corresponding Programme to which this
course belongs). An iterative approach is also recommended whereby a course is
evaluated/reviewed at regular intervals (e.g., at the end of each running cycle and/or academic year)
and readjusted/optimised accordingly (see 'Reflective practice' item above and Figure below).

Maged N. Kamel Boulos, 23 April 2010 - Page 8 of 8


Some useful Web links related to key skills (compiled by the University of Bath Library Web team)
Communication Skills
Advice on Academic Writing (University of Toronto)
Essay Writing (University of Surrey)
Oral Presentations (University of Surrey)
Oral Presentations (University of Wolverhampton)
Academic Skills
Plagiarism (University of Bath)
Epigeum Online Plagiarism tutorial (University of Bath)
Decision Tree Analysis (mindtools.com)
Arguments (University of Wolverhampton)
Improving your own Learning and Performance (University of Surrey)
Library Research Skills
Intute: Virtual Training Suite: 'teach yourself' Internet skills tutorials
Gathering Information (University of Surrey)
Study Skills Tip Sheets (University of Wolverhampton)
Social Skills
Study Skills Tipsheets and Guidance (University of Wolverhampton)
Force Field Analysis - Understanding The Pressures For and Against Change (mindtools.com)
Feedback (University of Surrey)