Self-Reflection on Curation and Social Media Engagement

Embarking on my Master of Health Studies journey, I discovered the power of resource curation and social media in academia. Before taking the MHST601 Critical Foundations in Health Disciplines course, my approach to gathering resources was scattered. However, now I've honed this skill using tools like Zotero (Zotero, n.d.), organizing my e-Portfolio for seamless sharing. My social media presence, which was minimal, is now more established professionally and aligned with my field's best practice guidelines. This course has been pivotal, shaping how I curate knowledge and present myself online, gearing me up for a scholarly and professional future.

Curation of Resources

Curation of resources is an important and one of the core competencies for postgraduate students (Ungerer, 2016), enabling the development of critical analysis and synthesis abilities while fostering a deeper understanding within their research fields. The process of resource curation involves critically analyzing and sifting through thousands of resources, as well as storing, utilizing, citing, and sharing relevant resources with peers. This process has now become very familiar to me. However, before starting the MHST601 course as part of my Master of Health Studies program, this process seemed completely vague.

To some extent, I had already been curating resources for various purposes, including furthering my continuous education in my role as a Medical Radiologic Technologist, preparing curriculum as an instructor and clinical liaison, and exploring my extracurricular interests. However, my approach of storing online resources as bookmarks in my browser, synced across devices, and saving downloadable content to both OneDrive and my local computer was not ideal. Now after taking the MHST601 course and gaining insights into resource curation and various collaborative tools such as Zotero, I feel empowered to continue curating digital resources in an organized and reliable manner. This approach allows me the flexibility to easily store and share these resources with peers through an e-Portfolio. After consistently practicing content curation throughout this course, researching contemporary health and healthcare topics relevant to my field, I now feel notably more confident and efficient. I'm better equipped to delve into published literature, to continue to learn and further enhance and grow my scholarly skills.

Use of Social Media

Developing and refining my academic voice is one of the key goals as I embark on this journey of obtaining my master's degree. This involves the ability to share my voice within my professional community as well as extending it to the public sphere. Before taking the MHST601 course, my interaction with social media was minimal. I primarily utilized platforms such as WhatsApp for personal connections with family and friends. Although I maintained a professional presence solely on LinkedIn, recognized as the top platform for professional networking (Tutelman et al., 2018), my engagement was limited, and my profile required updates. After starting the MHST601 course, I was introduced to the great idea of an e-Portfolio. Despite limited experience, I successfully created a website to articulate my academic voice through blog posts and share resources. Through this process, I have been developing my professional online identity and establishing a space to store artifacts from my learning journey. This makes it easier than ever to reflect on my achievements, surpassing what a resume could offer.

Throughout the MHST601 course, I gained a deeper understanding of the implications of not following established guidelines for healthcare professionals' social media presence (CBC News, 2016). This underscores the critical importance of aligning what I share online with the guidelines set by my provincial regulatory body, The Alberta College of Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologists (ACMDTT) (ACMDTT, 2020), while also adhering to the code of ethics and standards of practice (ACMDTT, 2023). These guidelines serve as a cornerstone, ensuring that my digital presence aligns with the professional values I've developed and refined through my experiences and ongoing learning endeavours. After completing this course, I intend to continue to evolve my online presence by utilizing my e-portfolio and expanding my professional reach on LinkedIn. Simultaneously, I'll remain open to exploring additional options as technology continues to evolve, ensuring a safe and responsible approach in interactions with colleagues, students, patients, and the public.

Conclusion

My journey through the MHST601 course has been transformative, refining my approach to content curation and social media engagement. I've transitioned from scattered resource-gathering methods to a refined curation process, enhancing my ability to analyze, synthesize, and share knowledge seamlessly. Moreover, my social media presence has evolved and continues to be guided by established guidelines and ethics. This course has equipped me to navigate the digital landscape responsibly, preparing me for a scholarly and professional future while highlighting the importance of aligning my online presence with regulatory standards and ethical considerations in healthcare.

References

Alberta College of Medical Diagnostic & Therapeutic Technologists. (2023). Standards of Practice—ACMDTT. https://acmdtt.com/about-us/documents/standards-of-practice/

Alberta College of Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologists (ACMDTT). (2020). Social media guidelines for MRTs and ENPs in Alberta.

CBC News. (2016, December 3). Nurse who “vented” online found guilty of professional misconduct | CBC News. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/srna-discipline-social-media-nurse-saskatchewan-1.3880351

Tutelman, P. R., Dol, J., Tougas, M. E., & Chambers, C. T. (2018). Navigating your social media presence: Opportunities and challenges. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 6(3), 289–298. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpp0000228.supp

Ungerer, L. M. (2016). Digital Curation as a Core Competency in Current Learning and Literacy: A Higher Education Perspective. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(5). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v17i5.2566

Zotero. (n.d.). Your personal research assistant. Retrieved September 14, 2023, from https://www.zotero.org/