Using Twitter as a pedagogical tool in two classrooms: a comparative case study between an education and a communication class

Extant literature on social media in education highlights the importance of improving social media-supported learning environments. This study adds to the literature by examining students’ perception and participation for three types of Twitter-based instrumental activities—backchanneling, exploring hashtags, and topics discussion—in two unique undergraduate classrooms (education vs. communication) over the period of a 14-week semester. By employing a comparative case study research design, this study revealed insights into how students may respond to the same Twitter classroom integration activities to a varying degree according to their differences in pre-class perceptions and behavioral patterns. We found that both classes manifested an overall positive attitude toward the integration of Twitter in class along with active participation. However, the communication students manifested a more favorable pre-perception of Twitter and showed a higher participation pattern in class. We also provide pedagogical implications and recommendations for instructors intending to apply or replicate the three instructional activities employed in this study.

[1]  Brian J. McNely.  Backchannel persistence and collaborative meaning-making , 2009, SIGDOC '09.

[2]  Michael Brito.  Smart Business, Social Business: A Playbook for Social Media in Your Organization , 2011 .

[3]  Maria A. Perifanou.  Language Micro-gaming: Fun and Informal Microblogging Activities for Language Learning , 2009, WSKS.

[4]  M. Patton.  Qualitative research and evaluation methods , 1980 .

[5]  Daniel G. Krutka,et al.  How and Why Educators Use Twitter: A Survey of the Field , 2014 .

[6]  Justin C. Blankenship,et al.  Learning Alone, Together , 2016 .

[7]  Joanna C. Dunlap,et al.  Teaching Tip: Tweeting the Night Away: Using Twitter to Enhance Social Presence , 2009, J. Inf. Syst. Educ..

[8]  C. Michael Elavsky,et al.  When talking less is more: exploring outcomes of Twitter usage in the large‐lecture hall , 2011 .

[9]  B. Lewis,et al.  Social Media and Strategic Communication: Attitudes and Perceptions Among College Students , 2010 .

[10]  Dorothy M. Chun,et al.  Technology in Language Use, Language Teaching, and Language Learning. , 2016 .

[11]  Tian Luo,et al.  Tweeting and Blogging: Moving towards Education 2.0 , 2015 .

[12]  Christine Greenhow,et al.  Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship in a Digital Age , 2009 .

[13]  Bethany K. B. Fleck,et al.  Using Twitter to Reinforce Classroom Concepts , 2012 .

[14]  Tian Luo,et al.  Enabling microblogging-based peer feedback in face-to-face classrooms , 2016 .

[15]  Royce Kimmons,et al.  Scholars in an increasingly open and digital world: How do education professors and students use Twitter? , 2016, Internet High. Educ..

[16]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[17]  Glenn T. Hubbard,et al.  The Mass Comm Type , 2013 .

[18]  Khe Foon Hew,et al.  Using Twitter for education: Beneficial or simply a waste of time? , 2017, Comput. Educ..

[19]  Jutta Pauschenwein,et al.  Adult Learner's Motivation for the Use of Micro-blogging during Online Training Courses , 2010, iJET.

[20]  Timothy W. Finin,et al.  Why we twitter: understanding microblogging usage and communities , 2007, WebKDD/SNA-KDD '07.

[21]  Janice M. Payan,et al.  Using Twitter in the Marketing and Advertising Classroom to Develop Skills for Social Media Marketing and Personal Branding , 2017 .

[22]  Giselle A. Auger.  Fostering democracy through social media: Evaluating diametrically opposed nonprofit advocacy organizations’ use of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube , 2013 .

[23]  P. Chandler,et al.  Why Some Material Is Difficult to Learn , 1994 .

[24]  Rita Kop,et al.  The Challenges to Connectivist Learning on Open Online Networks: Learning Experiences during a Massive Open Online Course , 2011 .

[25]  J. Keller.  Development and use of the ARCS model of instructional design , 1987 .

[26]  Helene Fournier,et al.  A pedagogy of abundance or a pedagogy to support human beings? Participant support on massive open online courses , 2011 .

[27]  D. Allsopp,et al.  Examining Perceptions of Systematic Integration of Instructional Technology in a Teacher Education Program , 2009 .

[28]  Lara Lomicka,et al.  A Tale of Tweets: Analyzing Microblogging among Language Learners , 2012 .

[29]  Yu-Hui Ching,et al.  Mobile microblogging: Using Twitter and mobile devices in an online course to promote learning in authentic contexts , 2012 .

[30]  Tian Luo,et al.  Enhancing Classroom Learning Experience by Providing Structures to Microblogging-Based Activities , 2012 .

[31]  John W. Creswell,et al.  Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research , 2006 .

[32]  Tian Luo,et al.  Instructional guidance in microblogging-supported learning: insights from a multiple case study , 2015, J. Comput. High. Educ..

[33]  E. Guba,et al.  Naturalistic inquiry: Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1985, 416 pp., $25.00 (Cloth) , 1985 .

[34]  Rebecca J. Hogue,et al.  Using mLearning and MOOCs to understand chaos, emergence, and complexity in education , 2011 .

[35]  Yu-Mei Wang.  When Technology Meets Beliefs , 2002 .

[36]  Daniel T. Hickey,et al.  Using Collaborative Writing Tools for Literary Analysis: Twitter, Fan Fiction and "The Crucible" in the Secondary English Classroom. , 2011 .

[37]  Ruimin Shen,et al.  Microblogging for Language Learning: Using Twitter to Train Communicative and Cultural Competence , 2009, ICWL.

[38]  N. I. Awad,et al.  Use of Twitter at a major national pharmacy conference. , 2015, American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

[39]  Sylwia Męcfal.  Recenzja książki. Robert K. yin, Case Study Research. Design and Methods (fourth Edition), thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009 , 2012 .

[40]  B. Nastasi,et al.  Contributions of qualitative research to the validity of intervention research , 2005 .

[41]  D. Garrison,et al.  Researching the community of inquiry framework: Review, issues, and future directions , 2007, Internet High. Educ..

[42]  Ke Zhang,et al.  Tweeting for learning: A critical analysis of research on microblogging in education published in 2008-2011 , 2012, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[43]  Claire Diaz-Ortiz.  Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time , 2011 .

[44]  C. Walsh,et al.  From Teaching Technology to Using Technology to Enhance Student Learning: Preservice Teachers’ Changing Perceptions of Technology Infusion , 2001 .