Abstract:

The Group of Teaching Innovation VetGeneULE of the University of León (ULE), formed by researchers of the group of Animal Breeding of this university (MEGA_ULE), initiated the @MEGA_ULE twitter account in 2015 as a communication channel with their students and a dissemination platform of their research and teaching activities. In the last years, members of the VetGeneULE group have used Twitter threads to encourage students to disseminate the findings of their learning experience. This activity had been performed in small groups within the framework of courses related to Animal Genomics in different Masters degrees of the ULE. As a step forward on the use of microblogging on Twitter as a tool to develop communication skills in larger groups of students, this year the VeteGeneULE group has encouraged their students of the Degree of Veterinary Sciences to summarize with a Twitter thread what they have learnt about an official Spanish breeding program currently running for a domestic species. In addition to the compulsory presentation of a memory and an oral presentation of the breeding program of their choice, the students have the opportunity to present their class mates their personal assignment with an informal language. A survey has been conducted to the students participating in these dissemination activities to assess whether microblogging on Twitter helped them to better understand the studied topic and take a closer look to their assignment. This survey has also helped us to assess if Twitter threads can be used as an efficient tool to introduce students from different degrees in the field of public science communication. The described activity has promoted interactions with the relevant education institutions (University, Faculty, Higher School), breeder’s associations and other researchers of the considered field through their social media platforms. In addition, it has contributed to disseminate technical activities related to the field of Animal Breeding and Animal Genomics to society by reaching non-scientific audiences.

Keywords:

Educational Networking, Microblogging, e-Communication, Animal Breeding, Genomics.