The Treatment Strategies for Neurodegenerative Diseases by Integrative Medicine

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of social media by students and its increaseduse by instructors, very little empirical evidence is availableconcerning the impact of social media use on student learning andengagement. This paper describes our semester-long experimental study todetermine if using Twitter - the microblogging and social networkingplatform most amenable to ongoing, public dialogue - for educationallyrelevant purposes can impact college student engagement and grades. Atotal of 125 students taking a first year seminar course for pre-healthprofessional majors participated in this study (70 in the experimentalgroup and 55 in the control group). With the experimental group, Twitterwas used for various types of academic and co-curricular discussions.Engagement was quantified by using a 19-item scale based on the NationalSurvey of Student Engagement. To assess differences in engagement andgrades, we used mixed effects analysis of variance (ANOVA) models, withclass sections nested within treatment groups. We also conducted contentanalyses of samples of Twitter exchanges. The ANOVA results showed thatthe experimental group had a significantly greater increase inengagement than the control group, as well as higher semester gradepoint averages. Analyses of Twitter communications showed that studentsand faculty were both highly engaged in the learning process in waysthat transcended traditional classroom activities. This study providesexperimental evidence that Twitter can be used as an educational tool tohelp engage students and to mobilize faculty into a more active andparticipatory role.