Virtual learning communities in a renal pathophysiology class: students’ perception

Abstract

Introduction: Creating learning communities has direct impact on all its members and their performance. Nowadays, medical school students are immersed in collaboration networks.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the participation on a learning community in social network, particularly in the perception of medical students when finishing their participation in the class.

Method: The study was performed with a sample of 80 third-year medical students in a undergraduate physiopathology class on a private university. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was implemented, using an instrument to assess the implementation.

Results: The results show that students developed competencies such as interaction and connectivity between its members (49%), impact in learning (52%), motivation for learning (46%), and challenging activities (44%). The highest participation was registered in Facebook (64%). The images and forum participation was also used the most (71%).

Conclusions: The use of learning communities favors the development of skills: analysis, multiperspective reasoning and self-directed learning, which are the bases of lifelong learning.