From Judith McDaniel
I taught a summer intensive Women’s Studies course about science, health, gender and race. The class is intended to open a discourse about whether science is really an objective, evidence-based practice or whether science is subject to the same prejudices and assumptions that affect other investigative disciplines.
Because the course was online and because I was frankly curious to find out a little more about Twitter as a research tool, I offered three research options for final projects. The first was traditional-students could use all of the standard research tools in the library and online and research and write a research paper on a topic they chose using a thesis (hypothesis) that I approved. The second asked students to investigate how blogging differed from traditional academic writing and to create their own blogs and, working in pairs, blog about a topic that was currently in the news about either science or health. A third option asked them to create a Twitter account and use it as fully as possible to research a topic of their choosing.
I have frequently used blogs in classes, but I began this Twitter experiment with two questions. What would the students think about twittering? What would I discover about the educational soundness of using this popular online tool as a learning device?
Twitter: What the students thought
…about their learning and technology
- I would like to agree with you that social networking sites are places where we can learn things about ourselves, others, and in general a place to gain knowledge. It bugs me a lot to hear professionals saying that these places are corrupting us and turning us into lazy people.
- Our generation is influenced by technology more than any generation has in the past. As a caveat, we have witnessed a whole new social and emotional structure in society.
- Have you ever thought about all the things you know and wondered how you obtained that knowledge? Would we have all of our knowledge, skills, and general understandings if we did not have the internet?
…about using Twitter
- Twitter reminds me of a saying that I learned as a child, it says: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The idea here is that by conducting your own research you are learning, and by posting it for others to see you are teaching them as well. Twitter seems like the gift that keeps on giving.
- It was helpful to find one network so you could branch and view their networks, allowing you to find interesting topics. I do plan on using it in the future, especially after I noticed articles in websites to have the option of “add/share on twitter”. I was amazed.
- Believe it or not, twitter can be a great research tool for many different subjects. I was a little wary when choosing the research option for twitter. However, I have realized the potential that twitter entails to become an educational tool and research outlet. I had a twitter account before starting this project. Though, I never was “that in to” twitter and I found it confusing from my standpoint, socially. Nonetheless, I found this hidden potential within twitter as an informational, research, and learning outlet.
- I hated the twitter site, I think after this project, I won’t use it again. Maybe my topic was not a great one when trying to find people for the [history of contraception] movement I was searching but overall, I just don’t like it.
- I think that twitter is a useful website; however, I do not believe that it is meant for researching specific topics relative to societal and controversial issues. I think that twitter could be useful for more broad topics of study like present news, and what is important to a particular person. Through this project I was able to learn about gender issues and the inequality that arises, however, most of the knowledge I obtained was through my own research and efforts.
Twitter: What the teacher thought…
More of the students who chose Twitter liked it than not. For some of them, it was a new way to use a social networking tool, and about half of the dozen who tried it already had Twitter accounts. Those who had not used Twitter on their own generally reported that they found it “overwhelming and complicated.” Organizing their research with TweetDeck or another tool helped, but there was still a steep learning curve from moving comfortably around Twitter and being able to use it effectively for research.
Unlike Facebook and other sites used for social networking and social marketing, the purpose of Twitter was not immediately obvious to my students. They weren’t posting “updates” about what they were feeling or doing or hoping to do. Twitter required students to know something about the subject they wanted to research. Twitter, one student reported, “was like a blank canvas and I had to do the illustrations on my own.” Some students took this as a challenge and were able to “paint” their canvas with enough key words to make a search fruitful. Others were not.
One student who was very successful in this form of research was looking at “the changing face of medicine and DNA use.” He began following a number of scientists and scientific journals, only to find out that DNA and medicine was a huge topic and that many of the posts he was following “had nothing to do with my topic.” Within a day, however, he had found posts that were relevant to issues of gender, medicine, and DNA. Within the next few days, he “solidified, refined, and strengthened my topic.”
I am still sorting through my perceptions and understandings about whether the students were learning about research and about their topics as a result of using Twitter. I am sure that for some of them the interest and excitement in being able to use a new tool-and a new internet tool at that!-was all the incentive they needed. For others, the lack of familiarity with the new tool was a disincentive. And yet all who attempted this form of research learned something, even if it was a negative learning. To say that this method of research was not useful for a given topic is worthwhile learning, even if it is not subject oriented.
Still, I don’t remember any other assignment when a student reported back: “I thoroughly enjoyed researching this issue. I think I might continue researching the topic for fun.”
image from comicbase
Tags: Add new tag, gender, online learning, tech-savvy generation, tools for teaching online, tweetdeck, twitter
