subject: Twitter Use Linked to Student Performance [print this page] Twitter Use Linked to Student Performance
Recently, researchers from three universities conducted a study to evaluate the relationship between academic performance of college students and Twitter use. The study concluded that students who used Twitter as an academic resource performed better on exams and on average, had a higher GPA by one half-point than students who did not, or who utilized a different social networking site for the same purpose. These results suggest that Twitter use helped increase student-led discussion of educational topics and assisted in classroom engagement.
The study was conducted among students at Lock Haven University, South Dakota State University, and Pennsylvania State University. Out of 125 participating students, 70 were asked to use Twitter to engage in educational discussion with each other during and after class. The remaining 55 students were asked to communicate through a more traditional social networking system, Ning.
The group of students using Twitter were encouraged to become increasingly active on the site throughout the semester. While the number of student tweets remained about the same from week to week, participation jumped towards the early end of the semester, specifically during week 12 when a total of 612 tweets were sent out. In the following weeks, usage declined slightly until the end of the study, which also marked the end of the semester.
One report concluded that an increased use of social media among college students and instructors can help to "evaluate how emerging technologies can be best used in educational situations" and to determine ways that instructors can make better use of new forms of technology in educating their students.
