an investigation into the use of twitter in teaching
TRANSCRIPT
David Strafford, Lecturer
Events Management, Service Sector Management
Sheffield Business [email protected]
@davidstrafford
3. Benefits of using TwitterEncourages active and participatory learning Critical thinking through questioning and
dialogueRecapping topics outside of the classroomExperiential learning through doingIncrease professionalism and employabilityParticipants from industry / ‘real’ worldAnswers are viewed by allCondensing information and summarising your
thoughts into 140 characters is quite challenging!
3. Benefits of using TwitterEncourages active and participatory learning Critical thinking through questioning and dialogueRecapping topics outside of the classroomExperiential learning through doingIncrease professionalism and employabilityParticipants from industry / ‘real’ worldAnswers are viewed by allCondensing information and summarising your
thoughts into 140 characters is quite challenging!
3. Benefits of using TwitterEncourages active and participatory learning Critical thinking through questioning and
dialogueRecapping topics outside of the classroomExperiential learning through doingIncrease professionalism and employabilityParticipants from industry / ‘real’ worldAnswers are viewed by allCondensing information and summarising your
thoughts into 140 characters is quite challenging!
3. Benefits of using TwitterEncourages active and participatory learning Critical thinking through questioning and dialogueRecapping topics outside of the classroomExperiential learning through doingIncrease professionalism and employabilityParticipants from industry / ‘real’ worldAnswers are viewed by allCondensing information and summarising
your thoughts into 140 characters is quite challenging!
4. Academic ContextDHIR A., BURAGGA, K and BOREQQAH, A. (2013). Tweeters on Campus: Twitter a learning Tool in the Classroom? Journal of Universal Computer Science. 19 (5) 672-691EVANS, C. (2014). Twitter for teaching: Can social media be used to enhanced the process of learning? British Journal of Educational Technology. 45 (5) 902-15GROSSECK, G and HOLOTESCU, C. (2008). Can we use Twitter for Educational Activities? Conference Paper for the 4th International Scientific Conference eLSEKASSENS-NOOR, E (2012). Twitter as a teaching practice to enhance active and informal learning in higher education: The case of sustainable tweets. Active Learning in Higher Education 13 (1) 9-21KUZNEKOFF, J.H., MUNZ, S. and TITSWORTH, S. (2015): Mobile Phones in the Classroom: Examining the Effects of Texting, Twitter, and Message Content on Student Learning, Communication Education, DOI: 10.1080/03634523.2015.1038727LOWE, B and LAFFEY, D. (2011) Is Twitter for the birds? Using Twitter to enhance student learning in a marketing course? Journal of Marketing Education 33 (2) 611-637RINALDO, S.B., TAPP, S. and LAVERIE, D.A. (2011). Learning by Tweeting: Using Twitter as a Pedagogical Tool. Journal of Marketing Education 20 (5) 1-11
8. The research77 Level 4 students at the end of Semester 1
39 Level 5 students at the end of Semester 2
Total of 116 survey respondents
40% approx. response rate
Triangulated with 4 qualitative student interviews in April 2015.
9. Positive feedback
Over 52% of respondents said they used social media to look for placements and volunteering opportunities
Over 22% said to look for Events Management related stories.
9. Positive feedback
Only 5% of respondents said they actively engaged with it…
…but over 28% said they enjoyed reading the posts afterwards
33% of students had positive interactions with the tweetchat
10. Positive Student commentsOnce it was for the Events Foundation e-portfolio, I was
researching cultural events and [the questions and information] you were putting on about Halloween and St Patrick's Day were good for me to get information in my portfolio, so it was really helpful (4a)
I thought Twitter was better because you can look at it any time of day and then because the chat was done in the evening, it’s like outside of study time. It’s not mandatory as well, so you can engage with it when it suits you (4b)
As well as links to other articles it was more like through questioning I managed to see things in other ways, like kind of helped. Like things I wouldn’t have usually thought of, were kind of discussed through the application (4b)
10. Positive Student commentsOnce it was for the Events Foundation e-portfolio, I was
researching cultural events and [the questions and information] you were putting on about Halloween and St Patrick's Day were good for me to get information in my portfolio, so it was really helpful (4a)
I thought Twitter was better because you can look at it any time of day and then because the chat was done in the evening, it’s like outside of study time. It’s not mandatory as well, so you can engage with it when it suits you (4b)
As well as links to other articles it was more like through questioning I managed to see things in other ways, like kind of helped. Like things I wouldn’t have usually thought of, were kind of discussed through the application (4b)
10. Positive Student commentsOnce it was for the Events Foundation e-portfolio, I was
researching cultural events and [the questions and information] you were putting on about Halloween and St Patrick's Day were good for me to get information in my portfolio, so it was really helpful (4a)
I thought Twitter was better because you can look at it any time of day and then because the chat was done in the evening, it’s like outside of study time. It’s not mandatory as well, so you can engage with it when it suits you (4b)
As well as links to other articles it was more like through questioning I managed to see things in other ways, like kind of helped. Like things I wouldn’t have usually thought of, were kind of discussed through the application (4b)
10. Positive Student commentsOnce it was for the Events Foundation e-portfolio, I was
researching cultural events and [the questions and information] you were putting on about Halloween and St Patrick's Day were good for me to get information in my portfolio, so it was really helpful (4a)
I thought Twitter was better because you can look at it any time of day and then because the chat was done in the evening, it’s like outside of study time. It’s not mandatory as well, so you can engage with it when it suits you (4b)
As well as links to other articles it was more like through questioning I managed to see things in other ways, like kind of helped. Like things I wouldn’t have usually thought of, were kind of discussed through the application (4b)
10. Positive Student commentsTwitter is much easier to access rather than going
through week on week on Blackboard. It’s just more organised and much quicker as you can use your phone (4b)
Twitter is good because it’s instant and it doesn’t have to be the tutor replying, other students can too (5a)
I can see why you would want to use it as it's a good way of getting university and work and learning into something that we use a lot, rather than being sat in a classroom (5b)
10. Positive Student commentsTwitter is much easier to access rather than going
through week on week on Blackboard. It’s just more organised and much quicker as you can use your phone (4b)
Twitter is good because it’s instant and it doesn’t have to be the tutor replying, other students can too (5a)
I can see why you would want to use it as it's a good way of getting university and work and learning into something that we use a lot, rather than being sat in a classroom (5b)
10. Positive Student comments Twitter is much easier to access rather than going
through week on week on Blackboard. It’s just more organised and much quicker as you can use your phone (4b)
Twitter is good because it’s instant and it doesn’t have to be the tutor replying, other students can too (5a)
I can see why you would want to use it as it's a good way of getting university and work and learning into something that we use a lot, rather than being sat in a classroom (5b)
11. Positive feedback summary1. The ones who engaged, really engaged2. For some students it really helped them
learn3. The less formal learning platform was of
benefit for some4. Accessing information through mobile
phones was much easier & quicker5. It was seen as fun – not really ‘learning’ 6. Tweets which helped with assignments were
the most popular
13. Negative Student commentsI think others were worried if they started
interacting with the Tweetchat then their lecturers might start following them on Twitter. Also, they didn’t want to be seen to be a right geek! (4a)
Maybe some people were scared of actually tweeting into it (4b)
I know a lot of people that put a lot more explicit things about themselves on Twitter that they don’t want tutors or university to know about (5a)
13. Negative Student commentsI think others were worried if they started
interacting with the Tweetchat then their lecturers might start following them on Twitter. Also, they didn’t want to be seen to be a right geek! (4a)
Maybe some people were scared of actually tweeting into it (4b)
I know a lot of people that put a lot more explicit things about themselves on Twitter that they don’t want tutors or university to know about (5a)
13. Negative Student commentsI think others were worried if they started
interacting with the Tweetchat then their lecturers might start following them on Twitter. Also, they didn’t want to be seen to be a right geek! (4a)
Maybe some people were scared of actually tweeting into it (4b)
I know a lot of people that put a lot more explicit things about themselves on Twitter that they don’t want tutors or university to know about (5a)
13. Negative Student commentsI think others were worried if they started
interacting with the Tweetchat then their lecturers might start following them on Twitter. Also, they didn’t want to be seen to be a right geek! (4a)
Maybe some people were scared of actually tweeting into it (4b)
I know a lot of people that put a lot more explicit things about themselves on Twitter that they don’t want tutors or university to know about (5a)
13. Negative Student commentsI don’t want to associate Uni with my Twitter. My
Twitter is very private and it’s set to private and I only have my friends on it, it’s really just to keep in contact with my friends and put pictures up (5a)
I think cos Twitter is more for personal use rather than university, it's more for escapism. When I want to get away from University and work, I go on Twitter and see what my friends are up to (5b)
If someone follows a lot of people then it might get lost amongst all their news feeds (5b)
13. Negative Student commentsI don’t want to associate Uni with my Twitter. My
Twitter is very private and it’s set to private and I only have my friends on it, it’s really just to keep in contact with my friends and put pictures up (5a)
I think cos Twitter is more for personal use rather than university, it's more for escapism. When I want to get away from University and work, I go on Twitter and see what my friends are up to (5b)
If someone follows a lot of people then it might get lost amongst all their news feeds (5b)
13. Negative Student commentsI don’t want to associate Uni with my Twitter. My
Twitter is very private and it’s set to private and I only have my friends on it, it’s really just to keep in contact with my friends and put pictures up (5a)
I think cos Twitter is more for personal use rather than university, it's more for escapism. When I want to get away from University and work, I go on Twitter and see what my friends are up to (5b)
If someone follows a lot of people then it might get lost amongst all their news feeds (5b)
13. Negative Student commentsI don’t want to associate Uni with my Twitter. My
Twitter is very private and it’s set to private and I only have my friends on it, it’s really just to keep in contact with my friends and put pictures up (5a)
I think cos Twitter is more for personal use rather than university, it's more for escapism. When I want to get away from University and work, I go on Twitter and see what my friends are up to (5b)
If someone follows a lot of people then it might get lost amongst all their news feeds (5b)
14. Negative feedback summary1. Time and date were wrong, having a focussed
hour wasn’t popular2. Twitter still seen by some as personal not
professional3. Students don’t want lecturers to follow them
& interact with them on Twitter4. Not all students use Twitter in the first place!5. Students don’t want to ask ‘stupid’ questions
online or been seen to be the class ‘swot’
15. How could it be improved?If more people had tweeted it would have
encouraged more people to tweet!Keep it as a general course or module account
which generally tweets and retweets – hub of activity
Get the students to tweet using hashtags during lectures & seminars first to build confidence
Focus more on Linkedin for Level 4 students, push them onto this
Use Twitter more actively with Level 6 students who are (potentially) more confident
16. Top tips 1. Accept that you won’t reach everyone2. Recruit as many colleagues & keen students as
possible to tweet alongside you3. If you use the ‘tweethour’ functionality, base it
around assignment help / revision4. Start off with older, more confident students5. Make sure you view it purely as an additional
tool which underpins learning rather than delivering anything central.
6. Post interesting content!7. Be mindful of how much time it will take…
ReferencesDHIR A., BURAGGA, K and BOREQQAH, A. (2013). Tweeters on Campus: Twitter a learning Tool in the Classroom? Journal of Universal Computer Science. 19 (5) 672-691EVANS, C. (2014). Twitter for teaching: Can social media be used to enhanced the process of learning? British Journal of Educational Technology. 45 (5) 902-15GROSSECK, G and HOLOTESCU, C. (2008). Can we use Twitter for Educational Activities? Conference Paper for the 4th International Scientific Conference eLSEKASSENS-NOOR, E (2012). Twitter as a teaching practice to enhance active and informal learning in higher education: The case of sustainable tweets. Active Learning in Higher Education 13 (1) 9-21KUZNEKOFF, J.H., MUNZ, S. and TITSWORTH, S. (2015): Mobile Phones in the Classroom: Examining the Effects of Texting, Twitter, and Message Content on Student Learning, Communication Education, DOI: 10.1080/03634523.2015.1038727LOWE, B and LAFFEY, D. (2011) Is Twitter for the birds? Using Twitter to enhance student learning in a marketing course? Journal of Marketing Education 33 (2) 611-637RINALDO, S.B., TAPP, S. and LAVERIE, D.A. (2011). Learning by Tweeting: Using Twitter as a Pedagogical Tool. Journal of Marketing Education 20 (5) 1-11