If We Can't Reach 'EM, Maybe Mayor @Corybooker Can: Using Twitter to Increase Political Interest Among Introduction to American Government Students
44 Pages Posted: 29 Aug 2013
Date Written: 2013
Abstract
Given the degree to which the Millennials utilize the virtual world to build social relationships and obtain information, Twitter has the ability to be a powerful mechanism for fostering civic engagement. Rooted in civic education and technology pedagogy literature, this paper reports findings from three studies that were designed to test the effect of using Twitter in the college or university classroom on student political efficacy, interest and engagement. Students enjoyed using Twitter in the classroom, but there is no strong evidence that doing so increases political efficacy, interest or engagement. While it is clear that students who are actively using Twitter are engaging each other, are more attentive to politics, and have a heightened interest in politics, we cannot establish causality. We offer a number of specific ways that Twitter can be used to engage students in the classroom and offer possibilities for future research to more clearly establish relationships between Twitter use and course, department, or institutional outcomes.
Keywords: Twitter, civic education, civic engagement, efficacy, political learning, political interest, technology, pedagogy
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