Evaluating Twitter and its impact on student learning in principles of economics courses

Abstract

Ever since Becker and Watts (1996 Becker, W. E., and M. Watts. 1996. Chalk and talk: A national survey on teaching undergraduate economics. American Economic Review 86 (2): 448–53.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) found that economic educators rely heavily on “chalk and talk” as a primary teaching method, economic educators have been seeking new ways to engage students and improve learning outcomes. Recently, the use of social media as a pedagogical tool in economics has received increasing interest. The authors assess students across three different institutions to see if the use of Twitter improves learning outcomes relative to a traditional Learning Management System. Using an experimental design, they find no evidence that the use of Twitter improves students' learning.