Use of Social Media to Develop and Promote the OT Curriculum in Higher Education

Maria Parks1, Kerry Sorby2, 1 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, York St John University, York, UK. m.parks@yorksj.ac.uk 2 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, York St John University, York, UK. k.sorby@yorksj.ac.uk ... [ view full abstract ]

Maria Parks1, Kerry Sorby2,

1 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, York St John University, York, UK. m.parks@yorksj.ac.uk

2 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, York St John University, York, UK. k.sorby@yorksj.ac.uk


Background:
Social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, are widely used personally and professionally to promote and disseminate information but there are understandable concerns within regulated professions such as Occupational Therapy, as to how these can be used in a professional and ethical way. This paper will share the experiences of a student/staff collaborative project at York St John University, which aimed to develop OT programme social media resources to communicate and raise the profile of the course, profession and University.

Evaluation:
The project has been awarded a grant to fund up to 130 hours of student paid contributions, to work alongside academic staff to develop manage a programme blog and Twitter account. It was funded to run from November 2015 – June 2016. This project will evaluate the impact of the social media developed in raising the profile of professional use of social media and the YSJU OT programme. Students employed on the project will be asked to provide reflective accounts of how engagement in the project has helped develop their own CPD needs.

Application to Education and /or practice:
Lessons learnt from this project will inform how regulated professionals can adopt and professionally use social media effectively.

This project has been funded by York St John University – Student as Researchers Funding