Teaching with Twitter: An extension to the traditional learning environment.

Abstract

Recent global events have forced a reexamination of the teaching tools that we make use of in higher education. We present our findings from a pilot, using Twitter as an extension to the learning environment for economics students at the University of Manchester and draw lessons for the use of this platform as part of a taught course. We suggest that, whilst popular in terms of personal adoption with students, the use of the Twitter platform is not empirically important for learning outcomes, with the important exception of where students have a history of lower performance. As a result, we suggest that targeted use may prove more warranted where the range of abilities is wide.