By Paige Chapman, Chronicle of Higher Ed
Students chatting on Twitter both inside and outside the classroom got higher grades than their nontweeting peers in a recent experiment conducted at a medium-size public institution in the Midwest. At the end of the semester, the tweeters had grade-point averages half a point higher, on average, than did their nontweeting counterparts. And students who tweeted were more engaged. Twitter users scored higher than those who didn’t use the tool on a 19-question student-engagement survey over the course of the semester—using parameters like how frequently students contributed to classroom discussion, and how often they interacted with their instructor about course material. The results of the experiment were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning in an article titled “The Effect of Twitter on College Student Engagement and Grades.” Researchers did not reveal the name of the university involved to protect the identities of the students.
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