Online Technological Media in the Higher Education Classroom: An Exploratory Investigation of Varied Levels of Twitter Use

Introduction

In a recent study of the top technologies to incorporate into the classroom, Tomei (2011) recommends greater inclusion of online technologies by teachers whenever possible. Though scholars have conducted research into a variety of ways of incorporating technology into teaching, research into the use of social networking sites (SNS) has been very limited (Nemetz, Aiken, Cooney, & Pascal, 2012). Scholars have only recently begun to examine the use of online technologies such as blogging (Chang, Liu, & Chang 2011), mobile video blogging (Kim, 2011), and social bookmarking (Gray & Carter 2012) in an instructional context. Even less research has empirically examined the use of the microblogging SNS Twitter (Clarke & Nelson, 2012; Lowe & Laffey, 2011; Rinaldo, Tapp, & Laverie, 2011). This paper begins to address that gap in the literature by describing an exploratory study in the varying levels of use of Twitter by instructors in the college classroom, noting its impact on several dependent variables, and suggesting possible avenues of future research. Dagada and Chigona (2013) contend that the majority of academics do not fully understand the interrelationships between content, pedagogy, and technologies. Because online technologies carry potential to enrich professional growth (Isman, Gazi, & Aksal, 2012), the value of this study is greater insight into effective Web-based teaching methods for academic professionals interested in online learning.