Friday, November 05, 2010

Use Twitter to Increase your GPA!

Rey Junco, a professor at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, recently communicated the results of a research study where he showed that judicious use of Twitter infused into face-to-face classes in the Pre-Health Professional Program resulted in an increase in student GPA from 2.3 (Non-Twitter control group) to 2.8 (Twitter experimental group). Also, he showed a significant increase in student engagement (as measured by the National Survey of Student Engagement tool) in the Twitter experimental group when compared to the non-Twitter control group. Together these findings suggest that social media and technological supports for the classroom student may be beneficial to junior students. Check out his video summary of his study below. What do you think about these conclusions? Leave a comment below.

3 comments:

Douglas W. Green, EdD said...

This looks like a good pilot study that is worthy of replication. It could even be attractive as a grant.

Eric said...

I agree 100% Doug! I would love to see the analysis extended to distance courses as well.

Eric Tremblay said...

Check this video out too. Another excellent example of using Twitter in the classroom to support large class discussions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8&feature=related