Maria Parks – @jaffaparks
Helen Jennings – @YSJOT
York St John University

In 2017 there will be significant changes to the way occupational therapy degree courses will be funded, from the current NHS commissioned places to students paying their own tuition fees. In response to these changes, in 2016, the OT programme at York St John University launched two social media platforms (Twitter and Word Press) with the aim of being able to disseminate good news stories from the programme and promote the programme to potential new applicants. Whether social media can influence or inform future learners in choosing the right course for them, is currently unknown.

Therefore, a longitudinal study has been designed, comparing three cohorts of learners, using survey/questionnaire, to enquire; what helped informed their decision making process for choosing a course and specifically which if any digital and social media may have been used.

The poster will present data from the first phase from the 2015-16 and 2016-17 cohorts. The study will be repeated next year after the social media use by the programme has been embedded and developed.

Results from the first phase will help inform whether social media is having an impact upon the recruitment of future learners and whether the use of social media needs to be modified in a way to have greatest impact in empowering future learners making informed decisions.