The research used long longitudinal method to study the impact of twitter on student engagement and their grades in class. The study hypothesized that use of social networking websites such as twitter can enhance the student’s activities, participation, and interaction with other students in class. The study was conducted in a semester and the findings for the tested variables recorded for analysis.
The study used 125 students who were taking a first year seminar course for pre-health professional majors. Among the population, 70 were placed in the experimental category and the remaining 55 as the control group. The experimental group were exposed to the use of twitter for various co-curricular and academic activities such as discussions. Various parameters were studied among the experimental group. The control group used normal class forums to study and engage in curriculum and co-curriculum discussions. A 19 – item scale was developed to measure student engagement on the twitter platform. The variables tested by the study were student engagement, use of social media and grades scored. The research was conducted using a quantitative design since it collected quantified data for analysis for the provision of empirical findings on the research problem.
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ANOVA tests were conducted on the data collect to determine the variations in student engagement and grades achieved between the experimental and the control group. The findings obtained indicated that through twitter communications, students and departments were actively engaged throughout the learning process unlike the common classroom interaction model. Additionally, the study showed that the experimental group had higher semester grades as compared to the control group. The findings of the study provided empirical ground for the justification of the use of social media platforms as education tool for enhancing faculties and student engagement as well as the achievement of good grades.
