“Using Twitter in … a college classroom can increase student interaction and student engagement with the course content,” Greenhow said. “In one study, using Twitter increased grades.”

Jan Bukovac-Phelps, an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing just started using Twitter in one of her courses this semester as a “trial run” and uses it to post links to advertisements and other relevant information.

However, Bukovac-Phelps said she has found some negatives while using the social media website.
““Twitter”:http:// can be a tool for discussion, sharing and information,” Bukovac-Phelps said. “It can also be a problem if students use it to provide information that is inappropriate.”

Greenhow also found in her research Twitter can be viewed as a new literacy practice.
“(You have) to understand what a hashtag is and how to use it … (and write a) concise (message) that still is meaningful,” Greenhow said. “It requires a new understanding of information literacy.”

Both Bukovac-Phelps and Greenhow mentioned not all of their students have a Twitter account or know how to use the website, but Greenhow said the amount of teenagers using Twitter has doubled from 8 percent to 16 percent in the last two years, which spiked her interest in the topic.
Communication junior Maddie Hopkins doesn’t use Twitter for any classes but said it could help students with learning the information.

“(It helps students) convey the information in a way to help better understand,” Hopkins said. “It’s more relevant to … today’s society.”

Greenhow said Twitter is very helpful in finding unestablished information and gives people real-time updates on big events.

“If you want to understand what it’s like to be on the debate floor, you need to go to Twitter,” she said. “It offers real-time.” (searches).”