MED STUDENTS: The ALiEM-EMRA Social Media and Digital Scholarship Fellowship

By Michelle Lin, MD May 14, 2014 0 comments

HOT OFF THE PRESS! We would like to announce a great opportunity for U.S. MEDICAL STUDENTS. In collaboration with the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA), we at ALiEM are launching the 2014-2015 ALiEM-EMRA Social Media and Digital Scholarship Fellowship for medical students! This is in parallel to the just-announced similar ALiEM-CORD fellowship for EM residents, except that this is for U.S. medical students, who are members of EMRA. The application process for this virtual fellowship is open as of right now.

Background

The use of social media in medical education has exploded over the past few years, and as one of the pioneers in the field, ALiEM now has partnered with EMRA to provide a chance for an interested and qualified EM resident to get involved and gain experience with us! This is a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in digital education, medical education, disruptive technologies, and leadership.

With five years of experience, ALiEM is uniquely positioned to share innovative ideas and projects as exemplified by our recent publications in the literature (e.g. expert peer review in educational blogs, curated summaries of the ALiEM-Annals Global EM Journal Club, growth of EM/CC FOAM sites in collaboration with Dr. Mike Cadogan of LITFL) and conference abstracts. We have reached a tipping point where we are ready to serve a mentorship role to someone who is interested in joining our creative, collaborative, passionate, and often frenetic team.

Thanks to EMRA

We would like to thank EMRA for their generous sponsorship of this new fellowship. This partnership is a perfect fit between our two organizations, with EMRA already partnering with EM:RAP and other digital resources.

Goals of the Social Media and Digital Scholarship Fellowship

To complete a self-identified project where the ALiEM team can serve as a mentor
To gain an in-depth understanding of the workings of a medical education blog, which includes hands-on experience with WordPress, Google Analytics, Twitter, and Google Hangout
To be a co-author in at least one of our PubMed peer-reviewed publications
To role model professionalism on social media platforms
To participate in digital scholarship
To collaborate efficiently with an international team using digital technologies

Responsibilities of the Fellow

Design and work on a scholarly project in social media and digital scholarship
Serve as ALiEM liaisons to some guest authors by:
1. Uploading their posts, which are submitted in Microsoft Word format into the WordPress system
2. Copyediting the post before submitting to the Editor-in-Chief for revisions
3. Providing authors with their official first-week metrics using Google Analytics (e.g. number of page views, number of cities, number of countries)
Take leadership role by moderating at least one Google Hangout on Air recording using our YouTube channel (e.g. ALiEM-Annals Journal Club, the ALiEM book club)
Learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and update SEO of some older blog posts
Participate in Twitter on behalf of the ALiEM team
Participate in set, periodic virtual meetings by Google Hangout with members of the ALiEM Editorial Board
Attend the annual ALiEM Editorial Board meeting at the 2014 ACEP Scientific Assembly in Chicago on October 27, 2014
Serve as a liaison to the EMRA organization
1. Participate in EMRA’s Editorial and Informatics Committees
2. Help improve EMRA’s social media and digital scholarship pursuits, especially as they apply to EM Resident Magazine

How is this Fellowship different from the ALiEM-CORD fellowship for residents?

While both fellowships will have a foundation in learning about the inner workings of the ALiEM blog, participating in key leadership roles, and co-authoring a journal manuscript, this ALiEM-EMRA fellowship will also allow the medical student to serve as a liaison to EMRA and their efforts to grow their social media and digital scholarship presence. A core component of both fellows’ activity will be driven by the scholarly project of his/her own choosing with mentorship by the ALiEM team.

Stipend and Finances

Although the fellowship is an unpaid, one-year position (no one on the blog team is paid), we will provide up to $1,000 to assist with travel and lodging at the ACEP Scientific Assembly for the ALiEM board meeting and the EMRA meeting.

Eligibility

Be a medical student in the United States during 2014-2015
Have an active Twitter account
Possess strong internet and word-processing skills
Preferably have previous strong experience with social media (although not required)
Preferably have some medical writing, copyediting, or journalism experience

apply-now

Application Process

The following documents will be screened by the Fellowship Director (Dr. Nikita Joshi) and Editor in Chief (Dr. Michelle Lin), with final approval of the candidate by the ALiEM Editorial Team and EMRA Board of Directors.

Curriculum vitae, which includes contact information including a Twitter handle
Letter of intent which includes ideas for a proposed scholarly project
A document with a sample blog post on any medical topic using any platform or media (limited to 800 words). Or you can just list the URL link to the sample post in this document. This is your chance to be creative!

Upload these 3 documents in the form below.