Data mining in education: managing digital content with social media analytics in medical education

The paper delves into social media mining in the context of medical education programs in the information age. It explores the adaptability of Social Media Analytics (SMA) apps within the structure of online courses in medicine and proposes a conceptual framework for a learning process. This process includes practical exercises based on search and social media mining in the healthcare industry, relying on technology solutions. An online course, “Managing Digital Content for Health Professionals”, was developed at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University to expand the understanding of digital content management processes, the specific details of in-depth social media analysis, and transforming social data into valuable knowledge for health professionals. The study group consisted of 108 participants. Throughout the course, students were tasked to ascertaining the effects gained during practical training and evaluating them. Participants identified the key professional and socio-personal effects of the practical training. Following the evaluation of the online apps’ feature sets, the authors concluded that social media analytics requires a comprehensive approach, the synergy of digital tools, a strategy for adapting the mining to the field of expertise, and the paradigm of data synthesis and use.