Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
FOAM authorship: Who’s teaching the learners?
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
FOAM authorship: Who’s teaching the learners?
Do you wish to request the book?
FOAM authorship: Who’s teaching the learners?
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
FOAM authorship: Who’s teaching the learners?
2022
Overview
Learning Objectives: Of all posts from the top 25 blogs in 2020, more than half came from six sites, most contained clinical content, and authors were largely North American male academics with MD degrees. Learners, content-creators, and educators must recognize these limitations in utilizing online educational content.Background: While use of Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM) content has grown over the last decade, concerns about quality assessment remain. Given the disconnect between the high utilization of these resources by learners and the low barriers and oversight to publishing, the authors of FOAM resources require further scrutiny.Objectives: We sought to describe the production and authorship characteristics of the most impactful FOAM blogs.Methods: Based on previous studies, a classification system for post content was developed by to two authors with content expertise in online educational resources. We included 12 months (August, 2019 - May, 2021) of blog posts from each of the top 25 sites in the 2020 social media index (SMI). We recorded the following: number of posts per site and per author, types of post; and author related details such as gender, title, affiliation, degree, location of practice and type of practice (academic, community, or hybrid). Gender was determined based on an online identification tool (genderchecker.com).Results: We identified 2,141 posts by 1,001 authors, with more than half produced by six websites: EM Docs (266), Life in the Fast Lane (232), EMCrit (188), ALiEM (185), Don’t Forget the Bubbles (181), and Rebel EM (174). Most content (1680 posts, 78.5%), lacked a conflicts of interest (COI) statement. Posts averaged 5.9 + 11.1 references and 2.32 + 7.8 comments. Authors were mostly academic (89%), mostly held MD degrees (67.4%), and skewed male (59.7%). Geographically, most FOAM authors reside in the USA (59.5%), Canada (22.42%), or the UK (9.4%).Conclusions: Of all the posts in the top 25 blogs in 2020, more than half came from six sites, most contained clinical content, and authors were largely North American male academics with MD degrees. Learners, content-creators, and educators should consider the ways in which a more diverse authorship pool might bring value to the FOAM educational experience.
Publisher
University of California Digital Library - eScholarship
Subject
