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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Can Twitter research be applied to K-12 world?

I've used the social networking application Twitter in my seventh-grade language arts classroom on a voluntary basis; in other words, students register for Twitter and follow my classroom twitter stream if they desire. Twitter is blocked by our district servers, so we can't use it at school. Because of this, I give students the option of following me on their own at home. Those who have dipped their toes into the Twitter stream have loved it and stay in constant touch. I believe it's no small coincidence that they do well in class, but I have no empirical data to support this, so some colleagues scoff at the notion that Twitter can add to the K-12 classroom.

Finally, there is some Twitter research to support improved engagement and learning for students using Twitter. The study, conducted by three different university researchers, is based on college students, but it got me to wondering if it doesn't translate to using Twitter in the K-12 classroom.

Can this sort of engagement work with K-12 students?

"The idea that student engagement can be increased outside of the classroom in a low-credit course through the use of technology is one of the key findings. Students are able to engage with faculty regularly in short exchanges," (Greg) Heiberger, coordinator of pre-health professional programs in SDSU's Department of Biology and Microbiology, said.

It would be nice to have similar Twitter research in the K-12 world, but until it surfaces, we'll just have to keep Tweeting at our students and measure our own results.

Whether you are an avid Twitter user or not, what are your impressions of the potential effectiveness of Twitter in the K-12 world?