Your Smartphone Is a Better PC than Your PC Ever Was or Will Be [Opinion]

Your Smartphone Is a Better PC than Your PC Ever Was or Will Be [Opinion]: "

Despite having spent the 2000s turning the generic term 'PC' into a pejorative stand-in for 'Windows', Apple may be selling the best PC on the market. It just happens to be the one that fits in your pocket. More »

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Twitter Increases Student Engagement [STUDY]

Twitter Increases Student Engagement [STUDY]: "

Communicating in 140-character segments may seem to contradict the goals of generally long-winded academia, but a new study has found that the two are less opposed than one might think. Students in the study who were asked to contribute to class discussions and complete assignments using Twitter increased their engagement over a semester more than twice as much as a control group.

The study used a 19-question survey based on the National Survey of Student Engagement to measure student engagement at the beginning and end of a seminar course for first year students in pre-health professional programs. Four sections (70 students) were given assignments and discussions that incorporated Twitter, such as tweeting about their experiences on a job shadow day or commenting on class readings. Three sections (55 students) did the same assignments and had access to the same information, but didn’t use Twitter.

In addition to showing more than twice the improvement in engagement than the control group, the students who used Twitter also achieved on average a .5 point increase in their overall GPA for the semester.

Dr. Reynol Junco, who conducted the experiment at Lock Haven University, has been doing research on the effect of tech on students for about 10 years. He said he hopes the results of the Twitter study will help more educators see the positive value of integrating social media into teaching and that more educators who do use social media in their teaching will conduct outcomes research to measure the effects of social media on learning.

The study will be published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning next week.

More About: classroom, Dr. Reynol Junco, education, engagement, Lock Haven University, research, students, study, twitter

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For some reason I can't stop eating this box of Tomato and Basil Wheat thins. 

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This is the Digital Life guide. I am here to guide you through all the wonderful things the digital world has to offer these days. You can integrate almost any lifestyle into the digital world. If there is an activity you like to do there is a piece of gadgetry or an application that will help you enjoy that activity even more. From cooking to hiking. The digital life guide is here to help connect you to all those tools that help you get more out of your day. I this day and age almost nothing is impossible.