The implications of required Twitter engagement in #HigherEd

Conference

Lian Arzbecker, Lindsey Deans, Tom Sather
8th Annual Provost’s Honors Symposium for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI, 2018 May

Cite

APA Click to copy
Arzbecker, L., Deans, L., & Sather, T. (2018). The implications of required Twitter engagement in #HigherEd. Eau Claire, WI: 8th Annual Provost’s Honors Symposium for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Arzbecker, Lian, Lindsey Deans, and Tom Sather. “The Implications of Required Twitter Engagement in #HigherEd.” Eau Claire, WI: 8th Annual Provost’s Honors Symposium for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, 2018.

MLA Click to copy
Arzbecker, Lian, et al. The Implications of Required Twitter Engagement in #HigherEd. 8th Annual Provost’s Honors Symposium for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, 2018.

BibTeX Click to copy

@conference{lian2018a,
  title = {The implications of required Twitter engagement in #HigherEd},
  year = {2018},
  month = may,
  address = {Eau Claire, WI},
  organization = {University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire},
  publisher = {8th Annual Provost’s Honors Symposium for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity},
  author = {Arzbecker, Lian and Deans, Lindsey and Sather, Tom},
  month_numeric = {5}
}

Abstract

This study explores Twitter as a pedagogical strategy in an online graduate aphasia course. There are numerous professionals, students and consumers in the speech-language pathology field who utilize Twitter to disseminate content, resources and narratives. Therefore, we hypothesized that integration of Twitter in the classroom will enhance students’ learning process. In this study, 21 online CSD graduate students were required to access and share relics through Twitter each week. A public access, third party software provided quantitative analyses of students’ Twitter activity. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze an anonymous, open-ended questionnaire completed by the students at the end of the semester. Results are compared to a prior study (Arzbecker, Pulley, Sather & Sanfelippo, 2017) that embedded Twitter in an online course, but did not require Twitter use. Current study results indicate a wide range of Twitter use and perceptions among participants and are compared to prior pilot data. Discussion will focus on barriers and facilitators to Twitter use in higher education, and implications for required versus options Twitter use.