Examining participation and engagement in a microblogging-supported college-level hybrid course

Abstract

This study sought to understand student participation and engagement in a microblogging-supported college-level hybrid course. Using a case study design, the researchers examined how students participated and engaged in a variety of microblogging-supported instructional activities, including backchanneling, exploration, discussion, and live chat activities. Students were asked to report their perception of their learning experience. Our study suggested that students participated actively in the microblogging-based activities, while challenges remained as well. The degree of participation and engagement varied considerably depending on the type of instructional activity. Despite that students perceived all activities positively, our analyses of student tweets showed that sustained participation and engagement with a high-level of interactivity was rarely achieved among the data.

Keywords:

• Participation
• engagement
• microblogging
• Twitter
• hybrid course