Exploring the use of Twitter in university classroom settings: The case of #SPM2122

Since 2008, Twitter has become increasingly popular for many industries to use to communicate promotional offers, company news, and as a public relations tool (Hambrick, 2010; Lowe & Laffey, 2011). Twitter is a micro blogging service where users can send messages, known as Tweets, of 140 characters or less. Twitter enables users to follow other users or companies, which makes content from the author automatically visible to one’s followers.

Several studies have found that the use of social media in a university setting can enable the instructor to develop a community of co-creators of unit (course) content (Retelny, Birnholtz, & Hancock, 2012), enable instructors to bring real-world examples into the unit (Lowe & Laffey, 2011), and foster enhanced engagement with a university unit materials (Junco, Heibergert, & Loken, 2010). This study sought to uncover how university lecturers can effectively utilise Twitter in a classroom setting and whether the use of Twitter leads to positive learning outcomes and enhanced engagement with unit materials.

To test whether the use of Twitter led to enhanced engagement with unit materials and positive learning outcomes, students anonymously completed a questionnaire that included items on whether respondents felt Twitter was an effective university assessment item, how often students had used the Twitter service during the semester, and whether students felt their engagement was enhanced through the use of Twitter. Participants were a purposeful sample of students enrolled in a third year sport marketing unit. The group consisted of primarily full-time (90.7%), domestic students (79.1%). The majority of participants had an existing social media account that they used at least once a month.

The relationship between Twitter as an effective learning resource and unit engagement was investigated using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. There was a strong positive correlation between the two variables (r = .70, p < .01), with high levels of unit engagement associated with higher levels of perception that Tweeting is an effective learning resource.