Digital Identity: Understanding How Veterinary Students View Their Digital Identity and Working in Partnership with Veterinary Students to Develop a Positive Digital Identity

Social media is omnipresent with the number of people with online digital profiles now in its billions. Every tweet, post, like or tag produces a digital footprint that can be connected perpetually to your digital identity. Many students will have started their digital footprint before they have even begun their University experience but do our students know what they should or shouldn’t post on social media and the consequences that any ill-considered posts may have on their future employability? Professional bodies publish guidelines for social media use and misuse, but how do our students actually feel about the advice or apply the guidance that is provided to them? The undergraduate schools within the College of MVLS at the University of Glasgow are currently working on a partnership project with students to focus on digital identity, wellbeing and professionalism. A needs analysis survey has identified key areas for development including the “grey” area of digital professionalism (students commented that it was easy to identify 'good' and 'bad' practice but the difficulty was knowing what the boundaries are); managing digital distractions and caring for their digital well-being. This poster will present further details of the needs analysis survey from the perspective of the veterinary student cohort. We will also outline the resources that are being developed to encourage student reflection on both their personal and professional development as they transition through their degree programme increasing individual awareness of digital well-being and how students might balance usage of their always-connected devices