The Use of Twitter in Large Lecture Courses: Do the Students See a Benefit?

Yıl 2015, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 2, 126 - 139, 01.06.2015

Heather M. Ross Ryan Banow Stan Yu

Öz

The purpose of this two-year quantitative study was to determine the usefulness of the micro-blogging tool Twitter in large classes for improving the students’ sense of community and belonging. Three instructors of large classes were recruited to test the outcomes of using Twitter as a learning tool, one each from the Departments of Geography and Psychology, and the College of Nursing. Twitter was used as a learning tool to allow students to engage in discussion and ask questions in real time during class as well as outside of class. The method used by the authors included surveys that measured students’ perception of their sense of community and belonging, their engagement with the Twitter portion of the course, and their thoughts on the use of Twitter for academic purposes in a higher-education classroom setting. Data about students’ use of Twitter was further collected using the Twitter Archiving Google Spreadsheet tool. The authors conclude this study showed that Twitter, if integrated into the course and supported by instructor and/or assistants who are familiar with the use of Twitter, improved the sense of community reported by students.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Microblogging, Twitter, Learning technologies, Community, Large classes, Higher education

Kaynakça

• Chickering, A. W. & Gamson, Z. F. (1987). Seven principles of good practice. AAHE Bulletin, 39 3-7.
• Drexler, W., Baralt, A., & Dawson, K. (2008). The Teach Web 2.0 Consortium: A tool to promote educational networking and Web 2.0 use among educators. Educational Media International, 45(4), 271-283.
• Freeman, R. M., Anderman, L. H., & Jensen, J. M. (2007). Sense of belonging in college freshmen at the classroom and campus levels. The Journal of Experimental Education, 75(3), 203-220.
• Gao, F., Luo, T., & Zhang, K. (2012). Tweeting for learning: A critical analysis of research on microblogging in education published in 2008-2011. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(5), 783-801.
• Geske, J. (1992). Overcoming the drawbacks of the large lecture class. College Teaching. 40(4), 151-154.
• Junco, R., Heiberger, G., & Loken, E. (2011). The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27(2), 119-132.
• Lin, M. G., Hoffman, E. S., & Borengasser, C. (2013). Is social media too social for class: A case study of Twitter use. Tech Trends. 57(2), 39-45.
• McKinney, J. P., McKinney, K.G., Franiuk, R., & Schweitzer, J. (2006). The college classroom as a community: Impact on student attitudes and learning. College Teaching, 54(3). P. 281-284.
• McNeill, T. (2010). Much ado about Twitter: Using Twitter for a final-year Shakespeare course. Proceedings of the INTED2010 Conference (pp. 5784-5789). Valencia, Spain.
• Ross, H. M. (2013, June 24). Why twitter and not email [Web log post]. Retrieved on 5 February 2015 from http://www.mctoonish.com/blog/?p=1314
• Rovai, A. P. (2002). Sense of community, perceived cognitive learning, and persistence in asynchronous learning networks. The Internet and Higher Education. 5, 139-332.
• Rovai, A. P. & Jordan, H. M. (2004). Blended learning and sense of community: A comparative analysis with traditional and fully online graduate courses. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 5(2), 1-13.
• Selznik, P. (1996). In search of community. In W. Vitek & W. Jackson (Eds.), Rooted in the land: Essays on community and place (pp. 195-203). New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Tess, P. A. (2013). The role of social media in higher education classes (real and virtual) – A literature review. Computers in Human Behaviour. 29, 60-68.
• Welch, B. K. & Bonnan-White, J. (2012). Twittering to increase student engagement in the university classroom. Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 4(3), 325-345.
• Correspondence: Heather M. Ross, Instructional Design Specialist, The Gwenna Moss Centre for
• Teaching Effectiveness, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada