Mobile Multi-modal Learning Facilitated through Twitter

A Case Study of Twitter Phenomenology with Graduate Level Nurses

Elizabeth M. La Rue

, Lauren Terhorst

and Kathleen G. McCafferty

School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, Victoria St. Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.

School of Health and Rehabilitation Services, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.

Applied Technology & Process Consultant, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.

Keywords: Mobile Learning, Educational Technology, Teaching Methods, Computer Uses in Education, Higher

Education, Nursing Informatics.

Abstract: Adapting academic course content to a mobile world continues to evolve as technology changes. A

conceptual deployment of Twitter in a graduate level nursing informatics course is discussed along with

how tweeting may fit learning styles, human working memory capacity and reduce the reliance on content

management systems to facilitate an online course. Mechanisms for using Twitter to deliver course content

and pollinate student interaction while maintaining private individual Twitter accounts for the faculty

member and students are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION

Few would argue that innovative technology and the

pervasiveness of information tools into everyday life

have changed the speed and flow of communication.

Any broadcast message on a social media

mechanism will likely receive some form of human

feedback within seconds – from anywhere in the

world. This availability of ‘free’ global information

has changed our behaviors in accessing information

and is influencing a change in the ways in which we

learn. We still use our brain, eyes, ears, and written

word but our attention span, vocabulary, and

tolerance for the mundane hasdecreased in every

aspect.

Over the last few yearsin my role as an assistant

professor, I have been trying to be an innovator,

however, I have come to realize that nothing is ever

‘new’ and that I will never be first with the idea. My

strengths lie in: a) being aware, testing and trying

the new tools; b) application of ideas in an

educational context; and c)sharing my innovative

concepts of repurposing the existing tools through

written word.

2 BACKGROUND

Classroom content management systems (CMSs)

have ruled the domain of online learning over the

past few years as the popular tool to use when

teaching online. But the reality is that the CMSs do

not teach, they simply assist users in organizing

content while requiring significant

networkbandwidth and multiple navigationclicks for

the users, i.e. extensive user time. They hold

information placed in the provided structured

network interface. The teaching aspect of online

learning is mostly self-led while instructors

moderate student discussion boards and grade

assignments. After moderating multiple sessions of

an online course, this instructor has encountered

boredom with the CMS tool and the students have

expressed disdain for the online discussion. To

recapture interaction with students and interest in the

course, change in the facilitation of the course must

occur.

Social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter,

LinkedIn and communication technologies such as

short message service (SMS), Instagram, and

Flipboard have revolutionized the way the world

interacts. Employing these technologies into an

online class may have the ability to unite the

students into an online learning network resource

group and make their course work and learning a

233

M. La Rue E., Terhorst L. and G. McCafferty K..

Mobile Multi-modal Learning Facilitated through Twitter - A Case Study of Twitter Phenomenology with Graduate Level Nurses.

DOI: 10.5220/0004965402330237

In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies (WEBIST-2014), pages 233-237

ISBN: 978-989-758-023-9

 2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

daily dynamic in their life routine.Not only would

they have a ‘cool’ way to learn and communicate,

they could become first adopters of the technology

in their respective peer groups. However, using all

of these tools in one course would overwhelm the

student as well as the instructor. Moderation is

required. After thoughtful deliberation and

experimentation, Twitter was selected as the most

appropriate learning tool for the current proposed

intervention.

Twitter is a tool that limits communication to

140 characters. One could say, ‘chunk of

information’ if making a comparison to Miller’s

1956 Chunking Theory (Miller, 1956). This chunk

of information would be considered a tweet from

theTwitter software. Miller proposed that

individualshave the ability to retain 7 numbers, plus

or minus 2, in their working memory. While

comparing 7 digits with or without 2 digits to 140

characters is quite different, there are knownmemory

advantages for the characters. The 140 characters

create words that hold the potential to tell stories.

Storytelling is a praised teaching methodology

known to stimulate student interest and increase

information recall (McKee and Fryer, 2003, Dewey,

1933).

Within the story told by a tweet the use of the

hashtag incorporates a symbol. Saloman found that

symbols have the ability to reduce the mental load

and processing power, increase the quantity of the

message being delivered and ease recall in

individuals (Saloman, 1979).

Symbols can also be referred to as pictures,

graphics, and include color to depict a message in

Twitter to build a tweet. With the inclusion of

pictures and symbols in a tweet, Twitter software

actually increases the quantity of information

transmitted in only a 140 characters. The adage of,

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ is further

strengthened with research findings. The viewing of

pictures creates a memory representation that

conceptualizes as information(Loftus et al., 1985,

Whitley, 2013). Pictures, symbols and colors can be

combined to create an infographic that tells a story

(Krauss, 2012). The information represented as an

image causes the brain to look at the information

from more than one angle which often assists the

brain in faster absorption of the information

(Davison, 2009, Zhang, 2012).

By using Twitter, as a mobile learning

technology, learning in the real world context is

suddenly available. When receiving 140 characters

as a SMS on a personal mobile device, thebrain

automatically notes the physical context to where

information was read and the mode ofdelivery.

Adding more than one situational context can affect

learning. Both physical location (Smith, 2013) and

mode of delivery affect learning (Westera, 2011).

Receiving a tweet on their mobile device has now

provided an individual three memory cues for

recalling the information:where one was when

learning, how one received the information, and the

time of day he/she received the information.

In addition to the contextual environment, mode

of delivery and time of day, a tweet could ignite

emotions that can later be associated with the

information. The emotions could be aroused by the

improper time in a life event when receiving the

tweet, or an appropriate time of receiving a tweet

(Cramp et al., 2012). Or, emotions could be stirred

by the word content of the tweet. Fritsch and

Kuchinke found enough difference in neuro-

stimulation associated with known words to

pseudowords to claim that recognized words had an

emotional impact with individuals (Fritsch and

Kuchinke, 2013). By tweeting information into the

hands of the mobile device equipped student, there

are multiple modes and models of learning that can

be made available to aidin their learning.

3 PURPOSE

The purpose of this project is to learn if employing

Twitter as a communication course requirement

decreases the need to access the course CMS and

results in a personalized multi-modal learning

environment where studentsbecome more engaged

with the course content and share more personal

discoveries related to the course material in real-

time.

4 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This project uses Twitter (a mobile communications

application primarily accessed via smart phones),

Blackboard, (a web-based content management

system (CMS)), and web videos, most likely hosted

by a personal YouTube.com station or a video file

uploaded to the school’s webserver. Twitter will be

used to supplement class communication hosted in

the ‘discussion’ area of Blackboard, or through the

‘announcement’ area. All Twitter feeds are linked

and stored in the Blackboard course for automatic

archiving. These can be accessed at anytime

through Blackboard.

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Geographically diverse online graduate nursing

informatics students will create a personalized

Twitter account. With their Twitter account, they

will interact with each other in real-time at anytime

by sending tweets. A single class Twitter account

has been established through GroupTweet.com.

This software provides one Twitter account where

multiple people can post and receive tweets. By

using GroupTweet.com the students do not have to

establish each classmate as a follower to their

personal Twitter account. They only have to ensure

that they follow the GroupTweet.com account

established for the class. Establishing a

GroupTweet.com account also permits the students

and the instructor to maintain their personal Twitter

account for personal tweets that are not to be shared

with the class.

Students have access to assigned course readings

and use the GroupTweet.com account to participate

in class through Blackboard. Each week a different

topic or aspect of information technology (IT)

project management (PM) is introduced through

lecture slides, a textbook, journal articles, blogs and

newsfeeds. In the lecture material, the instructor

provides an assigned task related to the weekly

subject matter, or a question for the students to

consider. Students create a personalized web video

response for the question and then Tweet to the class

that they have posted their web video response.

Those receiving the tweet can then automatically

open the video on their smartphone or their personal

computer. Responses to the videos can be tweeted

instantly upon review. This instantly connects the

students at one time and documents the running

dialogue that answers the posed question. It also

eliminates the steps necessary to login to Blackboard

to open the video, to simply add feedback.

During the 15-week course students are expected

to tweet eight individual tweets to the class where

they share a real-time life learning moment with the

course content. This could simply be pushing a

news article they discovered that related to one of

the weekly topics, or it could be how they lived a

PM moment in their life. This course requirement

will bring ‘real-life’ into the virtual classroom and

expose students to the practicalities of the course

content. Within two of these eight ‘life learning

moments’ they are to utilize the hashtag (#). This

requirement has the potential to link previous tweets

discussing the same topic throughout the term.

5 GOALS AND

OBJECTIVES/RESEARCH

QUESTIONS

Goals of this projectin no specific order are the

following:

1) Utilize the Internet based Twitter

communication software to establish a

multi-modal student learning opportunity;

2) Foster the growth of a personal learning

network (PLN) that originates from the

classroom and becomes a sustaining PLN

outside of the classroom;

3) Reduce the students’ need to access the

CMS through a desktop or laptop computer

as all course announcements and student

postings are pushed through Twitter in real-

time.

6 METHODOLOGY AND

TIMELINE

Pending IRB approval a convenience sample of 10

geographically diverse online graduate nursing

informatics students will engage with global class

learning techniques (Twitter, web-based videos, and

a CMS) daily/weekly for 15 weeks beginning early

2014.

Evaluation of the global learning experience will

be collected at three time points from students

through a formal online qualitative and quantitative

questionnaire. Questions will cover students initial

interest in Twitter, if they had an existing Twitter

account, self reported expertise with Twitter, self

report of hashtag deployment, ability to set alerts on

their mobile device and more. Any feedback offered

without solicitation will also be reviewed. Themes

and changes in qualitative information will be

recorded and discussed by the research team. The

quantitative information will be assessed by

examining response rates as well as an examination

of the distribution of a total score.

GroupTweet.com and Blackboard provide

statistics on users. The feasibility of this project will

be assessed by examining frequencies ofthe number

of times the tools are accessed, the time of day the

tools are accessed, the length of time the students

spend with each tool, and reasons why the specified

software tool was accessed. All student feedback

will be utilized to modify or supplement the project

as needed.

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7 BENEFITS AND ANTICIPATED

OUTCOMES

The outcomes of this project will inform future

deployment of Twitter as a learning tool in the

mobile classroom environment.

By requiring use of technologies, students adopt

the technology, step away from their routine, and

learn something new; even if it makes them

uncomfortable. Using global class learning tools,

e.g. Twitter, web-based videos, and a CMS, is

certainly nothing new but how they are used and

blended together pushes the students to bring ‘real

life’ tools into their world of learning.

With the right kind of assignments and the use of

Twitter, ‘just-in-time’ learning could occur daily –

multiple times. This extends the classroom into real-

life, making the didactic content practical. Students

are exposed to real-life situations and real-time

situations while connected to their personal learning

network. Thus, there is greater likelihood that the

students can apply what they learn and retain that

learning for future use.

Connecting the students remotely and having

just-in-time interaction might establish a personal

learning network (PLN) that would continue to

function as an established network after the course is

completed. A PLN could become as popular as

social support networks and professional networks.

The novelty of the hashtag could reveal subject

matter themes throughout the term that could then be

used to incorporate future course content. It can also

be used to link conversations together and extend the

conversation into the public world.

The 140 character restriction used by Twitter

will require the students to become more succinct, if

not more creative, in what they share; that is, they

will have to get the point across quickly. By

creating ‘blasts of information’, students are

ultimately chunking what they have to say. This

provides the link to Miller’s 1956 Chunking Theory.

The human brain can only retain a certain quantity

of information in one short instance. Miller’s

findings demonstrated that the human brain is

capable of retaining 7 numbers, plus or minus two,

in its working memory. Receiving a blast of limited

information within 140 characters might have the

same retention properties as 7, plus or minus 2

numbers. If this is the case, the modes of delivering

academic lecture material will change worldwide.

8 CONCLUSIONS

There is some evidence of Twitter being used in the

classroom but not by many (Lin et al., 2013, Seaman

and Tinti-Kane, 2013). Over 7,000 college and

university faculty completed an online survey on

using social media in the classroom. A little over 9%

reported using Twitter professionally and 60% of

those users were from the applied sciences discipline

(Seaman and Tinti-Kane, 2013). The faculty

claimed concern for personal privacy risks of

students as their reason for not utilizing social media

such as Twitter. To address this concern in advance,

the author is utilizing services from a third party

software company with a mechanism to protect

personal tweets and tweet to a private group.

There is a plethora of research and knowledge

about human learning styles, learning mechanisms,

memory tricks and instructional methods. This

paper presented numerous discoveries around

contextual learning and memory capacity. Twitter

presently appears to satisfy multiple learning styles

and deliver a succinct message quickly.

Significant time was spent constructing solid

scaffolding for methodically deploying and using

Twitter into an online course managed through a

CMS. The next phase of this study will use this

model design and introduce Twitter as a learning

mechanism in a more analytical setting; an

introduction to statistics course. Findings from this

additional phasewill be consulted to improve Twitter

utilization for the faculty as well as the students.

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