Microblogs in Higher Education – A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learning?

Microblogging is one of the latest Web 2.0 technologies. The key elements are online communication using 140 characters and the fact that it involves “following” anyone. There has been a great deal of excitement about this in recent months. This paper reports on a research study that was carried out...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers and education 2010-08, Vol.55 (1), p.92-100
Main Authors: Ebner, Martin, Lienhardt, Conrad, Rohs, Matthias, Meyer, Iris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Austria
College Students
Computer Mediated Communication
Computer Uses in Education
Content Analysis
e-Learning
Electronic Learning
Electronic Publishing
Foreign Countries
Higher Education
Informal Education
Informal learning
Internet
Microblogging
Process-oriented learning
Science Education
Social Networks
Technology Integration
Twitter
Web 2.0
Web Sites
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Summary:Microblogging is one of the latest Web 2.0 technologies. The key elements are online communication using 140 characters and the fact that it involves “following” anyone. There has been a great deal of excitement about this in recent months. This paper reports on a research study that was carried out on the use of a microblogging platform for process-oriented learning in Higher Education. Students of the University of Applied Sciences of Upper Austria used the tool throughout their course. All postings were carefully tracked, examined and analyzed in order to explore the possibilities offered by microblogging in education. It can be concluded that microblogging should be seen as a completely new form of communication that can support informal learning beyond classrooms.
ISSN:0360-1315
1873-782X
DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.12.006