Author Dr.

Alice Louise Kassens Associate Professor of Economics Roanoke College 221 College Lane Salem, VA 24090 [email protected] (540) 375-2428 (phone) (540) 375-2577 (fax)

Tweeting Your Way to Improved #Writing, #Reflection, and #Community Abstract: Economics appears to be lagging behind other fields in the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom. Twitter is an online microblogging utility, permitting posts of up to 140 characters called tweets. The utility is rapidly making its way into secondary and postsecondary classrooms as a complement to traditional instruction and an active learning tool. This paper describes how Twitter was employed as a complement to traditional lecture in a small macroeconomics principles course; the instrument is applicable to courses at any level. The brevity of the tweets forces students to express their thoughts concisely and is believed to develop reflection and writing skills while expanding the class community. Keywords: twitter, writing, reflection, technology JEL Codes: A22 The Principles of Economics course is the first place students are asked to write and think like economists. A variety of technologies are available to complement traditional lecture including blogging, online quizzes, computer games and simulations, and electronic discussions. Becker and Watts (1996) noted that economists were lagging behind other fields in the adoption of active learning techniques available at the time. Based on the literature, it appears that economists are now lagging behind other fields, and even secondary education, in the incorporation of Web 2.0 in the curriculum. This article describes how to use Twitter, a microblogging technology, in a small economics course to reflect on lecture, improve writing skills, and expand the classroom community. TWITTER AND THE CLASSROOM

Twitter is an online microblogging utility, permitting registered users (Twitterers) to post (tweet) and read messages limited to 140 characters and follow anyone. Founded and launched in 2006, there are an estimated 200 million active users generating over 400 million tweets per day (Wickre 2013). The social networking service is free and can be accessed through a variety of portals including the website and cell phone and tablet applications. Tweets can include images and videos and are sent primarily through cell phones (Moore 2013). A users Twitter page displays user tweets in reverse chronological order and can be personalized using a variety of templates. Twitters uses include the dissemination of breaking news and communication, and the utility has increasingly found its way into the classroom. The current literature reviews the impact of Twitter on engagement, participation, success, writing and communication skills, community, learning, and memory. A considerable literature has evolved describing how Twitter is used to increase classroom engagement and success (Ebner, et al. 2010, Elavsky, Mislan and Elavsky 2011, Junco, Elavsky and Heiberger, Putting twitter to the test: Assessing outcomes for student engagement and success 2012, Junco, Heiberger and Loken, The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades 2011, Rankin 2009). These studies suggest that Twitter activities throughout the semester improved student mood, engagement, and success, particularly if the assignment was a considerable share of the course grade and faculty participation was strong. The utility is particularly helpful promoting discussion in large classes and amongst students reluctant to speak in class. One study found no significant effect of Twitter on engagement, but the assignments were low stakes (Welch and Bonnan-White 2012). Frequent tweets of course concepts by either students or faculty can also improve student learning and thus success (Blessing, Blessing and Fleck 2012, Wang 2013).

A common use of Twitter in the literature is to increase student participation in daily lecture (Rankin 2009, Novak and Cowling 2011, Young 2009). In each case, students tweeted questions and comments regarding the current lecture through individual Twitter accounts to the class account, which was streaming at the front of the room (backchanneling). Student tweets were frequent, and professors could address questions immediately and adjust the lecture to address misunderstandings. Some noted that there was the potential for students to miss important material while typing or reading tweets or be distracted by the Twitter feed (Young 2009, Handler 2012). A solution has been to limit the time Twitter is used and projected to short periods (Handler 2012). The 140 character limit forces tweets to be succinct. Journalists have referred to Twitter as an electronic editor (Tenore, What Twitter teaches us about writing short & well 2012). The brevity of tweets can also be a powerful tool for teaching and practicing writing and other communication skills (Helvie-Mason 2011). Several decades ago, economists spoke of integrating the writing across the curriculum approach to improve undergraduate writing, thinking, and arguing skills and link course material (Cohen and Spencer 1993, Seigfried, et al. 1991). Writing about economics is a vital test of student understanding of course material, but is a challenge in an introductory course where student writing skills are often poor. One of the keys to good writing is developing an argument. A Twitter assignment pushes students to edit and develop concise arguments and does so in a manner that is easier and faster for the instructor to evaluate than a longer writing assignment. Finally, Twitter expands the classroom beyond its physical walls. A community can be developed in a normally isolated educational experience, such as a student teaching practicum (Wright 2010). Guest experts can join the classroom conversation from anywhere in the world,
4

students can initiate communication with experts, and watch conversations unfold between experts in real time. Of the literature reviewed and discussed, not one manuscript is authored by an economist or discusses the use of the utility in the classroom. This is unfortunate as Twitter is a simple technology which can be easily integrated in a course and, if done so correctly, pushes students to be active participants in the learning process. Web 2.0 has great potential for teaching economics in the 21st century (Becker, Teaching Economics in the 21st Century 2000). USING TWITTER IN PRINCIPLES A semester long social media project was incorporated in a section of a Principles of Macroeconomics course at a small liberal arts college in Virginia in the spring and summer semesters of 2013. The class included thirty and twenty-one students, respectively, who were largely economics and business majors. The Twitter component, weighted 15% of the overall course grade, required students to tweet several times over the course of the semester. Some assignments were completed during the class period, while others were finished outside of class. The setting was a 32 seat computer classroom with a screen at the front of the room projecting the classs twitter feed. A common rubric, designed by the class prior the start of the project, was used to grade each assigned tweet. [INSERT FIGURE 1 ABOUT HERE] Preparation Many students did not enter the semester with Twitter experience, necessitating an introduction. The project was discussed briefly on the first day of the semester and students were told to search for an answer to the question What is Twitter before the next class. Most students
5

utilized twitter.com/about which we also accessed as a class the following class period. Next, each student set up a Twitter account to use for course related activities; students were encouraged to keep personal activities on a separate account. Students were given 10-15 minutes to personalize their page, follow each other, the course account, and potential economics resources, and make some initial tweets. Lastly, the students and professor took 10-15 minutes drafting the grading rubric shown in Figure 1. This activity was prompted with the question What makes a good tweet? Given the student input, the professor developed a final rubric and posted it on the online course management page. Allowing an entire class period for an Introduction to Twitter is likely plenty, but students should be encouraged to experiment with their account and any related application outside of class. Graded Assignments Ten Twitter assignments were graded over the course of the semester, three of which are discussed below; Table 1 provides a complete list of assignments. Each followed a related lecture and required a concise, reflective tweet. The tweets were streamed at the front of the classroom through twitter.com and filtered by the course hashtag. Class was held in a computer lab, so students submitted their tweets from their desktop. Students had online access to the grading rubric at all times. For assignments completed outside of class, students used either a cell phone application or a computer to tweet; tweets were broadcasted and discussed the following class period. [INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE] An early assignment involved the 2013 State of the Union Address. Students were required to watch the address either live or online within 24 hours of the televised event and

tweet several comments, questions, or responses throughout. There were several purposes for this assignment including raising student awareness of current issues and conversations of national importance, applying course material to these current issues and conversations, and doing so in a thoughtful and concise manner. An economics professor from a university in New York saw my tweets reminding students of this assignment and encouraged his students to join our conversation which deliberately expanded our class community and discussion. It was reported that over 1.3 million tweets were sent worldwide between the start of the address and the end of Senator Rubios response, including 637 by members of Congress (Weiner 2013); all of these tweets were available to my students, creating an unintended class over a million strong. Another Twitter assignment involved questions tweeted to our class by two prominent economists. A traditional GDP lecture, including the indicators definition, uses, historical and current values, international comparisons, and shortcomings, was concluded with a discussion of the relationship between GDP and happiness. Students reviewed the empirical relationship between GDP and happiness with the aid of an online series (Wolfers 2008). The authors of a recent journal article on the topic and the online series the students were assigned each tweeted a question for the class to address concerning the relationship between GDP and happiness: 1) OK, theres a strong relationship between GDP & happiness. Does that mean govts should aim to maximize GDP? (Wolfers 2013) and 2) People in rich countries are happier than those in poor. Does that mean buying things makes us happier? (Stevenson 2013). Students tweeted answers to at least one of the two questions. Answering questions from experts on a topic in this manner increased engagement as our discussion was not confined to the classroom walls and a face could be associated with the experts. These experts joined our community for that lecture. An expansion of this exercise would be to have an expert or guest interact live with the class

rather than simply tweeting a single question; guest could answer student questions or pose questions as a conversation evolves. A third assignment involved a video from Econstories.com. The website features several free videos pertaining to economic issues and schools of thought. Students in the macroeconomics principles class were required to watch Fear the Boom and the Bust, a rap video pitting Hayek vs. Keynes in a debate over business cycles, and tweet several comments or questions. A principles class from a university in Tennessee also participated in the assignment, expanding the conversation beyond our small group. This assignment was completed at home since headphones were not available in the computer lab. An alteration of this assignment would be to play the video on the screen at the front of the room and have students tweet throughout, although students would not be able to replay sections that they did not understand as they can when viewing on individual computers. Twitter assignments, including the ones described above, have the potential to improve reflection and writing skills. Mentioning these purposes, posting the grading rubric for students to review, and providing feedback in class on those issues are important for the success of the assignment. Students enjoyed the alternative method of interaction, particularly those who are reluctant to speak in class. Suggestions Suggestions for teachers considering using Twitter in classroom: 1) Hold class sessions in a computer lab. Questions about setting up an account, etc. can be handled more productively when students open accounts with the professor present.

Additionally, Twitter is more easily incorporated in the classroom when it can be used during lecture on a regular basis. 2) Establish ground rules for all students to follow. Our ground rules included a) be respectful and b) only use the Twitter account for class related assignments. 3) Allow students practice tweets and give feedback based upon intended learning outcomes before any graded assignments are given. 4) Select a unique hashtag for all class posts. 5) Grade student tweets by going to students individual Twitter pages rather than relying on programs to collect tweets based on a hashtag. These programs are, for now, unreliable. 6) Follow each of the students in your course to facilitate grading. 7) Assign a significant portion of the course grade to the assignment. Benefits, Difficulties, and Cautions Benefits of using Twitter in the classroom include: 1) expanding the classroom and becoming part of a larger community, 2) refining reflection skills without requiring large writing assignments, 3) refining writing skills without requiring large writing assignments, 4) increasing student engagement, and 5) showing students how to use social media responsibly. One drawback to the use of Twitter as described in this manuscript is that it is likely not suitable or manageable for large classes. Managing ten or more assignments for large classes would be potentially time-cost prohibitive, unless a student assistant was available. Finally, I have two cautions. First, the professor must be comfortable with the utility before bringing it into the classroom. Twitter is very simple to use, but the professor should not be a stranger to or uncomfortable with the media device. Second, as mentioned earlier, pick a

unique hashtag for all class assignments and check to make sure that it is not already in use. As an example of why this is important, I selected #bls as the hashtag for a discussion of a Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the fly. To my horror, as the Twitter feed was broadcasting on the classroom screen, hundreds of tweets from Justin Beiber fans filtered through discussing a Beiber Love Story. Pick a unique hashtag and stick with it for all assignments. REFERENCES
Avent, Ryan. 2012. Free Exchange (blog). The Economist. February 20. Accessed January 10, 2013. http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/02/inflation. Becker, William E. 2000. "Teaching Economics in the 21st Century." Journal of Economic Perspectives 109-119. Becker, William E., and Michael Watts. 1996. "Chalk and Talk: A National Survey on Teaching Undergraduate Economics." American Economic Review 448-453. Blessing, Stephen, Jennifer Blessing, and Bethany Fleck. 2012. "Using Twitter to Reinforce Classroom Concepts." Teaching of Psychology 268-271. Cohen, Avi J., and John Spencer. 1993. "Using Writing Across the Curriculum in Economics: Is Taking the Plunge Worth It?" Journal of Economic Education 219-230. Ebner, Martin, Conrad Lienhardt, Matthias Rohs, and Iris Meyer. 2010. "Microblogs in Higher Education - A chance ro facilitate informal and process-oriented learning?" Computers & Education 92-100. Elavsky, C. Michael, Christina Mislan, and Steriani Elavsky. 2011. "When talking less is more: exploring outcomes of Twitter usage in the large-lecture hall." Learning, Media and Technology 215-233. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. n.d. Fed Chairman Game. Accessed January 10, 2013. http://sffed-education.org/chairman/.

10

Handler, Mitchell. 2012. "Professors use Twitter to enhance classroom discussion." The Daily Californian. October 16. Accessed September 21, 2013. http://www.dailycal.org/2012/10/16/professors-use-twitter-to-enhance-class-discussion/. Hayek, Friedrich A. 1994. The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Heilbroner, Robert R. 1980. The Making of Economic Society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Helvie-Mason, Lora. 2011. "Twitter and student reflection." Communication & Higher Education. April 11. Accessed September 21, 2013. http://www.commhighered.com/2011/04/twitter-and-studentreflection.html. Junco, Reynol, C. Michael Elavsky, and Greg Heiberger. 2012. "Putting twitter to the test: Assessing outcomes for student engagement and success." British Journal of Educational Technology 273287. Junco, Reynol, Greg Heiberger, and Eric Loken. 2011. "The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades." Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 119-132. Knotek, Edward S., II. 2007. "How Useful is Okun's Law?" Economic Review 73-103. Accessed 1 10, 2013. http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/4q07knotek.pdf. Manzo, Kathleen. 2009. "Twitter lessons in 140 characters or less." Education Week 1-14. Moore, Heidi. 2013. "The Guardian." Twitter heads for stock market debut by filing for IPO. September 12. Accessed September 16, 2013. http://www.guardian.com/technology/2013/sep/12/twitter-ipostock-market-launch. Novak, Jeremy, and Michael Cowling. 2011. "The Implementation of Social Networking as a Tool for Improving Student Participation in the Classroom." ISANA International Academy Association Conference Proceedings. Auckland: ISANA International Education, Inc. 1-10.

11

O'Driscoll Jr., Gerald. 2010. "Keynes vs. Hayek: The Great Debate Continues." The Wall Street Journal. July 7. Accessed March 10, 2013. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704738404575347300609199056.html. Papola, John, and Russ Roberts. 2010. "ECONSTORIES." Fear the Boom and the Bust. June 22. Accessed 1 10, 2013. http://econstories.tv/2010/06/22/fear-the-boom-and-bust/. Rankin, Monica. 2009. Some general comments on the "Twitter experiment". Accessed September 15, 2013. http://www.utdallas.edu/~mrankin/usweb/twitterconclusion.htm. Seigfried, John, Robin Bartlett, W. Lee Hansen, Allen C. Kelley, Donald N. McCloskey, and Thomas H. Tietenberg. 1991. "The Status and Prospects of the Economics Major." Journal of Economic Education 197-224. Stevenson, Betsey (BetseyStevenson). 2013. " People in rich countries are happier than those in poor. Does that mean buying more things makes us happier." Twitter, 2 11. Stevenson, Merril. 2011. Democracy in America (blog. The Economist. July 27. Accessed January 11, 2013. http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/07/deficits. Tenore, Mallary Jean. 2011. 6 ways Twitter has made me a better writer. July 28. Accessed May 11, 2013. http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/140751/6-ways-twitter-hasmade-me-a-better-writer/. . 2012. What Twitter teaches us about writing short & well. August 30. Accessed May 11, 2013. http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/186371/what-twitter-teaches-usabout-writing-short-well/. Wang, Lily M. 2013. "Acoustic Tweets and Blogs: Using Social Media in an Undergraduate Acoustics Course." Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics 1-14.

12

Weiner, Rachel. 2013. President Obama's 2013 State of the Union by the numbers. February 13. Accessed May 12, 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/02/13/presidentobamas-2013-state-of-the-union-by-the-numbers/. Welch, Bridget, and Jess Bonnan-White. 2012. "Twittering to Increase Student Engagement in the University Classroom." Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal 325345. Wickre, Karen. 2013. Celebrating #Twitter7. March 21. Accessed September 16, 2013. https://blog.twitter.com/2013/celebrating-twitter7. Wolfers, Justin (justinwolfers). 2013. "OK, there's a strong relationship between GDP & happiness? Does this mean govt's should aim to maximize GDP?" Twitter, 2 11. Wolfers, Justin. 2008. Freakonomics >> The Economics of Happiness, Part 1: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox. April 16. Accessed February 13, 2013. http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/04/16/theeconomics-of-happiness-part-1-reassessing-the-easterlin-paradox/. . 2008. Freakonomics >> The Economics of Happiness, Part 2: Are Rich Countries Happier than Poor Countries? April 17. Accessed February 13, 2013. http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/04/17/the-economics-of-happiness-part-2-are-rich-countrieshappier-than-poor-countries/. . 2008. Freakonomics >> The Economics of Happiness, Part 3: Historical Evidence. April 18. Accessed February 13, 2013. http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/04/18/the-economoics-ofhappiness-part-3-historical-evidence/. . 2008. Freakonomics >> The Economics of Happiness, Part 4: Are Rich People Happier than Poor People? April 22. Accessed February 13, 2013. http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/04/22/theeconomics-of-happiness-part-4-are-rich-people-happier-than-poor-people/.

13

. 2008. Freakonomics >> The Economics of Happiness, Part 5: Will Raising the Incomes of All Raise the Happiness of All? April 23. Accessed February 13, 2013. http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/04/23/the-economics-of-happiness-part-5-will-raising-theincomes-of-all-raise-the-happiness-of-all/. . 2008. Freakonomics >> The Economics of Happiness, Part 6: Delving Into Subjective Well-Being. April 25. Accessed February 13, 2013. http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/04/25/the-economicsof-happiness-part-6-delving-into-subjective-well-being/. Wright, Noeline. 2010. "Twittering in teacher education: reflecting on practicum experiences ." Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning 259-265. Young, Jeffrey R. 2009. "Teaching with Twitter: Not for the Faint of Heart." The Chronicle of Higher Education. November 22. Accessed September 21, 2013. http://chronicle.com/article/TeachingWith-Twitter-Not-for/49230/.

14

FIGURE 1: Twitter assignment grading rubric

CATEGORY Content 3 Content is specific to the topic and clearly typed All directions were followed, including appropriate hashtag 2 Content is mostly specific to the topic, but not completely clear Most directions were followed and appropriate hashtag included 1 Content is not specific to the topic and is not clear Directions were not followed OR appropriate hashtag not included 0 No Twitter entry

Requirements

No Twitter entry

15

TABLE 1: Twitter Class Assignments

Title Heilbroner Hayek State of the Union Address GDP and happiness Description Students read a section of the first chapter of The Making of Economic Society and tweet reflective comments/questions Students read selections from The Road to Serfdom and tweet reflective comments/questions Students tweet reflective comments/questions relating to course material during the SOTU address Compare international GDP data; read blog posts in "The Economics of Happiness" series on Freakonomics web page; tweet answer to one of two questions tweeted to class by guest economists Examine GDP, unemployment data during the Great Depression; read O'Driscoll Jr. 2010 and tweet a reflective comment/question; watch "Fear the Boom and the Bust" by ECONSTORIES and tweet a reflective comment/question Use a variety of online resources on the history of money and money demand and tweet several reflective questions/comments Read online resources from the Federal Reserve Bank's webpage and tweet several reflective comments/questions; play the "Fed Chairman Game" and tweet the outcome and reason Read online paper from Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank on Okun's Law and tweet reflective comments/questions on each major section of the paper Read online article from The Economist on the Phillips Curve and tweet a reflective comment/question After reviewing U.S. debt and deficit data available online from FRED, read online article from The Economist on deficits and tweet a reflective comment/question

Keynes and the Great Depression

Money and the money market The Fed and monetary policy

Unemployment and GDP Unemployment and inflation US debt

Sources: Heilbroner, 1980; Hayek 1994; Wolfers 2008; ODriscoll Jr. 2010; Papola and Roberts 2010; Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco n.d.; Knotek 2007; Avent 2012; Stevenson 2011

16