Social Media in the Classroom
Dr. Alice Louise Kassens February 2015
Twitter in the classroom
• Twitter has been shown to improve:– Engagement– Participation– Writing– Community– Learning– Memory
Twitter 101
• Online microblogging technology
• Post “tweets” up to 140 characters
• Over 200 million active users, over 400 million tweets/day
• Free service, www.twitter.com
• Accessed through variety of portals: cellphone, computer, tablet
• Tweets can include pictures and videos
• User’s twitter page can be customized using templates
Introduction
• Assessment results suggested deficiencies in student writing
• Framing an argument biggest issue
• Assigning additional writing assignments (traditional) is not always feasible/effective
• Need for frequent, small-scale assignment(s) Twitter
Sample Assignment
Twitter assignment #2
Use the economic principle of comparative advantage to argue in favor of a volunteer military over conscription.
Student A: A volunteer army has a comparative advantage over conscription because more desire to fight will lead to productive soldiers #kassensecon122
Rubric
Research Results
Helpful tools
Live streaming twitter feedHootfeed (https://hootsuite.com/hootfeed) – “free” (http://ow.ly/DNEsQ )
Others
•TweetBeam (www.tweetbeam.com) – “free” (http://www.tweetbeam.com/show?id=EBG5l)
Helpful tools
Helpful tools
Make a storyStorify (www.storify.com)
Example: https://storify.com/alicekassens/all-volunteer-army-or-conscription-1
Helpful tools
Helpful tools
Archiving tweets (grading)Tweet Archivist (www.tweetarchivist.com) - paid
Others
•Request from www.twitter.com
•Tweet Book (www.tweetbook.in) – “free”, only your tweets, favorites •TAGS (https://tags.hawksey.info/) - “free”, Google sheet
Lessons learned
• Twitter uses an algorithm to block accounts; a process to get reset
• Unique hashtag (test it before you use it)
• Set up account for class only
• Emphasize difference between @ and #
• Great feedback, students enjoyed the asignments
Positive externalities
• Expand the classroom
• Teach responsible social media use
• Increased student interaction
Sample AssignmentPost an example of complementary goods that you observed over the weekend.
Blogs
Sample assignment
Helpful tools
Questions?
Alice Louise KassensRoanoke College
@RnningEconomist
Related work:The Journal of Economic Education, 2014, vol. 45, issue 2, pages 101-109