Best Practice 1: Microblogging

What is Microblogging...?

Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the from of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in  terms if its content which is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size. Microblog allows users to exchange small elements of contents such as short sentences, individual images and video links. Twitter is the most popular microblog system. It was launched in 2006 which considered to be robust, elegant and simple. There are currently more than 90 million users of Twitter worldwide. 

Microblog such as Twitter is an increasingly important tool in higher education. The use of Twitter enable scholars to communicate informally on subject of shared interests. At the same time, it opens windows into student project as well as to sparks interest and discovery among peers. Some universities use microblogging in the curriculum. The use of microblog in curriculum will emphasize timeliness, student engagement and aggregation of artifacts relevant to the course content.

Success Story

This video shows a summary of a research conducted at Lock Haven University which is located in north central of Pennsylvania, USA. The research describes a semester-long experimental study to determine whether microblogging and social networking platform (such as Twitter) can enhance students activity, participation and interaction within the university. At the same time it also to empirically evaluate if using Twitter in education can impact college student engagement and grades.

A total of 125 students taking a first year seminar course for pre-health professional majors participated in this study. With the experimental group, Twitter was used for various types of academic and co-curricular discussions. The university also conducted content analyses of samples of Twitter exchanges.

According to Dr. Rey Junco, the results showed that the experimental group had a significantly greater increase in engagement than the control group, as well as higher semester grade point averages. Analyses of Twitter communications showed that students and faculty were both highly engaged in the learning process in ways that transcended traditional classroom activities. This study provides experimental evidence that Twitter can be used as an educational tool to help engage students and to mobilize faculty into a more active and participatory role.


Source: http://blog.reyjunco.com/about