Twitter and education go together quite well
Social networks such as Twitter can increase students’ dedication to their study, and increase their study results. This was the result of a research done by the South Dakota State University in the United States. Using twitter frequently not only improves the contact between students and teachers, but also the cooperation with fellow students.
Twitter as educational tool
According to the researchers, Twitter makes it easy for students to support each other in a virtual learning environment. The Twitter-group in the research showed better results at the end of the semester, than the group that didn’t make use of twitter. Research manager Greg Heiberger notices that the research showes that Twitter can be used as a educational tool to increase the dedication of the students and make the learning environment more active.
New possibilities
Communication outside class and school is an important factor in the succes of students, according to Heiberger. He thinks that social networks offer new possibilities for the development of social study projects, the use of media within education and new educationa and learning strategies.
You and twitter?
There are approximatelt 168,000 people being active with Twitter in Holland. The number of students amongst them is not known. HAN-student Commercial Economy Eef (21) doesn’t use Twitter and has no need to, she says. ‘If I want to work together with other students online, I use MSN. It works fine for me.’ Student Communication, Multimedia & Design Coen (21) has a Twitter accound. ‘I use it for anything but study, but I guess it’s not a bad idea at all.’
