Social Media in the Classroom

Dr. Alice Louise Kassens February 2015

Twitter

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

Instagram

Sample AssignmentPost an example of complementary goods that you observed over the weekend.

Blogs

Sample assignment

Helpful tools

Questions?

Alice Louise KassensRoanoke College

@RnningEconomist

kassens@roanoke.edu

Related work:The Journal of Economic Education, 2014, vol. 45, issue 2, pages 101-109