Abstract:

Background:
The social media have not only changed the way in which people communicate, socialise and connect but also academic practice in many ways. Among social channels Twitter is widely used by academic institutions, lecturers and students. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that Twitter can enhance learning experience and it seems that when the use of Twitter aligns with course objectives, these can be achieved with a more time-efficient and enjoyable way (1-4).

Aim and methodology:
In order to explore the potential of Twitter as the social network of choice for research-informed teaching, an activity was designed and incorporated on a postgraduate class. The activity was linked to a three -hour teaching session on Immunity and Epigenetics. Prior to timetabled face-to-face event students were invited to use a specific course hashtag in order to share relevant to the class material, article, figure or comment. Due to coronavirus pandemic the class was on short-notice switched from face-to-face to a synchronous virtual classroom (Canvas /BigBlueButton). The last part of the session was devoted on the Twitter activity. Lecturer provided a summary of tweets and students engaged in group sessions to share experiences and decide on the ‘winner tweet’. Afterwards, the spokesperson of each group shared with the class a rational for their decision. At the end students had the opportunity to reflect on their learning experience with Twitter.

Results:
Our teaching experiment shows that not every student was actively engaged with the Twitter activity (ca. 50%). Interestingly, most students did not use Twitter regularly in their personal life or had no Twitter account before class. The results show that other social media (i..e Instagram) may have started to replace Twitter among current and future student cohorts. Despite these facts, the Twitter activity was rated as a very positive experience (average 4.8 stars on a scale of 1-5, 5: most positive). Furthermore, the vast majority of students (81.5%) agreed that the Twitter activity enhanced their learning about Epigenetics and Immunity and most students commented positively on the potential of Twitter for research-informed learning. Finally, a good number of students commented that they enjoyed the ability to link course objectives to actual global trends, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic on this specific occasion.

Discussion:
This work demonstrates that social media like Twitter have great potential for supporting student engagement, educational collaboration, reflective practice and application of theoretical knowledge to current trends. Research-informed and research-led teaching opportunities can be easily created by the lecturer and evolve further by student’s initiative in an enjoyable way that promotes curiosity, motivation and links learning objectives to personal interests and current trends. Twitter activities can optimally support not only face-to-face teaching sessions, but even e-learning teaching solutions. However, as social media trends evolve, academics should carefully consider which social network to choose. It seems that Twitter may lose soon its popularity among upcoming student cohorts.

References:
[1] Evans, C. Br. J. Educ. Technol. (2014)
[2] Forgie, S. E., et al.. Med. Teach. (2013)
[3] Veletsianos, G.. J. Comput. Assist. Learn. (2012)
[4] Adams, B., et al. T. Int. J. Educ. Technol. High. Educ. (2018)

Keywords:

Social Media, Twitter, research-informed teaching, research-led teaching, epigenetic, immunity, biology, higher education didactics, e-learning.