Authors

  1. Viveiros, Jennifer PhD, RN, CNE
  2. Medeiros, Kiley MSN, RN

Article Content

Social networking sites and image-based communication are useful tools for nurse educators in engaging millennial learners.1 A visual discovery board on the free social media site, Pinterest, was created to highlight content relevant to a medical-surgical nursing course. Faculty curated 23 boards, including course concepts and test-taking strategies designed to be both informative and fun. Two examples are provided in Supplemental Digital Content, Photo 1, http://links.lww.com/NE/A765 and 2, http://links.lww.com/NE/A766. Students were invited to participate on a voluntary basis to augment the classroom component of the course. Students were encouraged to identify and suggest "pins" for posting; however, only faculty were authorized to post to the boards, allowing for information to be vetted and ensuring copyright infringement issues were eliminated. Content was pinned weekly in conjunction with course topics addressed in the classroom. Students reported satisfaction with the ease of use, free cost, and, perhaps most importantly, "a way to stay connected" to the course whenever they wanted. Using a Pinterest board is a relatively low-workload, cost-effective way to further engage students in course material. The use of social media allowed students to stay connected at their convenience with brief tidbits of course content reinforcing key aspects. Digital discovery boards can build a learning community and encourage learning anywhere, at any time.

 

Reference

 

1. Shellenbarger T, Robb M. Pinstructive ideas using a social media networking bulletin board for nursing education. Nurse Educ. 2013;38(5):206-209. [Context Link]