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Can Twitter Boost Class Participation and Grades?

by Terrence O'Brien on November 18, 2010 at 08:30 AM

twitterWe've previously discussed the potential of technology and social media to alter the classroom experience. Many schools and professors are looking to boost student engagement by using Facebook and Twitter, but can that tech actually lead to better grades? A study just published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning suggests that it might. The researchers monitored the engagement and grades of two college classrooms: one used Twitter to discuss, research and complete assignments while the other used a more commonplace Web-based educational platform with discussion boards. All 125 participants (with 70 in the Twitter class and 55 in the control group) were taking a first-year seminar course for pre-med students.

Using a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement (to measure the rather vague concept of "engagement," naturally), the study found that both student and educator engagement was significantly higher in the class using Twitter. The Twitter group also averaged about half a point higher in their GPAs than the control group.

What the study can't answer, though, is whether the boost in grades is actually attributable to microblogging in the classroom. There are simply too many variables and the study too limited. The results, however, shouldn't come as a complete surprise -- even if they may prove difficult to recreate. A professor's comfort with a particular form of social media can greatly impact how effectively it's implemented in the classroom. A Luddite professor forced to engage with students via Facebook will likely lead to lower grades.

What the study really suggests is that Twitter, in the right hands, can be a powerful tool for sparking interest and engagement in a classroom environment. This could be partially due to the novelty of using the everyday social-networking tool in an educational environment (which also means the improvement in grades and engagement might not last for more than a semester or two). It could also be that Twitter is a simpler and more convenient tool to use than traditional classroom management platforms like BlackBoard, which are almost universally loathed for their cumbersome interfaces and the sometimes multi-step processes to log-in to the service.

There's plenty more research to be done on the subject. Twitter shouldn't be hailed as a cure-all for the nation's educational woes, but it shouldn't be dismissed entirely as a gimmick, either. What this study shows is that simply combining social media and education isn't necessarily a bad idea. But, regardless of what the headlines say, it doesn't prove that Twitter makes you smarter.

Tags: education, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, JournalOfComputerAssistedLearning, school, social networking, SocialNetworking, study, top, twitter

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