Interprofessional Student Perspectives of Online Social Networks in Health and Business Education

The education sector is experiencing unprecedented change with the increasing use by students of mobile devices, social networks and e-portfolios as they prepare for future positions in the workforce. The purpose of this study was to examine student's preferences around these technologies. A mixed methods research strategy was used with an initial online survey using 29 Likert scale style questions to students from the School of Health Sciences and the School of Business at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Descriptive statistics and ANOVAs were performed to examine if there were any differences between groups regarding their overall responses to the survey questions. Content analysis was used for qualitative focus group data. Overall, students (n = 260) were enthusiastic about technology but wary of cost, lack of choice, increased workload and faculty involvement in their online social networks. Of note, students see significant value in face-to-face classroom time.