INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN VETERINARY EDUCATION: STUDENT PERCEPTIONS AND EVALUATIONS
10th Scientific Conference of Veterinary Medicine Students, Warszawa, Polonya, 10 - 11 Mayıs 2025, ss.22, (Özet Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: Warszawa
- Basıldığı Ülke: Polonya
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.22
- İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa Adresli: Evet
Özet
Background: Social media has become an important tool in education and professional life in recent years. In knowledge-intensive fields such as veterinary education, social media platforms offer potential benefits, including facilitating access to educational materials, enabling information sharing, and enhancing professional skills. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of social media on veterinary education and to analyze students' perceptions of the professional and academic use of social media. Additionally, the study examines the effects of age, academic year, and daily social media usage on these perceptions. Material and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional survey conducted among students at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. A total of 227 students participated in the study. Participants were from different academic levels, ranging from 1st to 5th year. The survey included demographic questions and 8 Likert-scale questions focusing on the educational and professional impacts of social media. Results: The results indicated that students' perceptions of social media varied based on their age groups and daily social media usage. The 18–21 age group evaluated the educational and professional impacts of social media more positively, whereas the 22+ age group exhibited a more critical perspective. Additionally, students who used social media for 4 hours or more daily had a more favorable view of sharing surgical videos. Significant differences were identified for certain questions; for instance, both daily social media usage and age groups had noticeable effects on perceptions related to the sharing of surgical videos. Conclusions: Younger students tended to evaluate the benefits of social media, such as access to educational materials and professional knowledge sharing, more positively, while older students adopted a more critical stance. This study provides valuable insights into optimizing social media use in the context of veterinary education.