CorpComms Magazine

Students who lack in confidence in the classroom could benefit from Twitter, according to recent research by Australia's Southern Cross University.

The research studied the use of Twitter as a method for asking questions and gaining feedback without being under the judging eyes of fellow classmates. The tweets were sent directly to teachers' computers and accessed through PowerPoint presentations.

The study found that university students could benefit from using the social network, as it allows them to tweet their teacher in silence rather than put their hand up and ask a question for all the room to hear. International students particularly welcomed the initiative.

The research pointed to the idea that using Twitter would lead to better overall teacher-student engagement with less 'passengers in the classroom'.

Jeremy Novak, a business lecturer at the university, who was involved in the study, said: 'Twitter is another exciting teaching aide that is highly under-utilised by lecturers and teachers in the education sector.'

But he conceded that that some obstacles still needed to be overcome to ensure Twitter became an effective classroom tool. There is a risk that students may pretend to tweet their teacher while secretly updating their personal social networking profiles. Novak said lecturers would need to set out strict guidelines for the use of this technology.

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