Open source social technologies for teaching health informatics

Abstract

An estimated 87% of university students rely on social networking sites (SNS) in their daily social activities. Some universities have adopted open source SNS in teaching. This paper discusses the benefits of using open source SNS, especially Elgg, in teaching health informatics. It is organized as follows: (a) A literature review to define open education, (b) a review of open source SNS and their effects on education systems, (c) an overview of Elgg pointing out its features, (d) a case study of implementing Elgg in teaching Health Informatics course, including a discussion of results and recommendation, and finally (e) the conclusion.