Is Twitter a Pedagogical Tool in Higher Education? Perspectives of Education Graduate Students

Abstract

This study presents the perspectives of education graduate students of using Twitter as a pedagogical tool for 15 weeks as a required social media activity in class. The results indicated that each course participants reported a positive learning experience of using Twitter. Although this was their first experience with Twitter, participants reported that Twitter provided space and opportunities to engage in academic activities as a new pedagogical tool. Participants reported they used Twitter to receive immediate and frequent course information, ask questions to the mentor, update course assignment, and to share helpful information from outside the text book to their fellow classmates and mentor. This study also highlights suggestions and implication of Twitter in personal and professional developments.

The Use of Twitter Amongst Female Saudi EFL Learners

“…This result is consistent with that of Gao et al (2012), who claimed that the informal nature of microblogging sites does not detract from their promotion and support of language learning. Some other studies underlined the potential of Twitter to be a convenient environment that positively affects language learning and education (Mork, 2009;Harmandaoglu, 2012;Gao et al, 2012;Bista, 2015;Mompean & Fouz-González, 2016;Antenos-Conforti, 2009;Borau et al, 2009;Elfatah & Ahmed, 2015). In an exploration of Twitter as an avenue for learning, Borau et al (2009) found that the site provides individuals suitable opportunities to practise language use.…”

Twitter as a Tool for Teaching and Communicating Microbiology: The #microMOOCSEM Initiative

“…Twitter is among the 10 most popular online social networks, integrating a community of over 500 million users around the world. Twitter has already been used in several educational programs and evaluated as a positive teaching experience with an outstanding potential in academic and educational environments (1–6). However, there are scarce examples available in the literature about its use in science teaching and communication.…”

Social media use by instructional design departments

“…Bista (2015) studied the perceptions of education graduate students on using Twitter as a pedagogical tool during class activities. Similarly, Lin et al (2013) conducted a qualitative case study to examine the uses of Twitter when implemented as a supplement to online and face-to-face classroom learning among graduate students.…”

“…The majority of the current literature focuses on examining social media use and integration within formal educational settings (e.g., Allen & Nelson, 2013;Bista, 2015;Gao, Luo, & Zhang, 2012;Lin, Hoffman, & Borengasser, 2013), and little attention has been paid to how graduate departments or programs use social media in informal ways. While it is not uncommon for graduate departments or programs to have an institutional social media presence, the instructional design (ID) field has a limited understanding of how our programs use social media.…”

“…Such adoption rates seem to be a global trend (Poushter, 2016), and it can be said that social media use has become an integral part of many people's daily lives (Aydin, 2012;Rodríguez-Hoyos, Salmón, & Fernández-Díaz, 2015). Used as a means of communication, collaboration, and content creation (Alzouebi & Isakovic, 2014;Luo, Wang, & Han, 2013), social media are used in a wide array of settings, including educational ones (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2012;Manca & Ranieri, 2016.The majority of the current literature focuses on examining social media use and integration within formal educational settings (e.g., Allen & Nelson, 2013;Bista, 2015;Gao, Luo, & Zhang, 2012;Lin, Hoffman, & Borengasser, 2013), and little attention has been paid to how graduate departments or programs use social media in informal ways. While it is not uncommon for graduate departments or programs to have an institutional social media presence, the instructional design (ID) field has a limited understanding of how our programs use social media.…”