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Online asynchronous courses require close attention to course design to ensure there are strategies in place to foster social presence to build stronger senses of community and to motivate students to engage (content, peers and instructors). Judicious use of social media may serve this purpose. Since its inception, social media, Twitter in particular, has been employed in higher education courses for teaching and learning experiences with a notable impact on student engagement and social presence. This research examines students' use of Twitter for assessment and interaction in the online asynchronous classroom from 2014 to 2018, to determine if there has been an increase in the length, amount or content within Tweets, and if students report stronger engagement and interaction following the use of Twitter for assessment. While results indicate such a connection exists, students were more focused on completing course requirements than creating connections or interacting with others, and were bothered by the constraints of the Tweet length.

Student engagement promotes communication and knowledge acquisition, a concept that is challenged in the online environment as few opportunities exist to physically connect instructors and learners. Limited research suggests that social media is a tool that can positively impact student engagement in the online classroom, which is especially relevant in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic and learning formats transitioning online. Specifically, Twitter, a favoured format for sharing news, entertainment, and professional networking, may provide a platform and an opportunity for engagement between students and the instructor outside of the traditional, formal classroom setting. This research explores how postsecondary students enrolled in two introductory online self-directed asynchronous courses used social media tools for personal, professional, and academic purposes and how Twitter, as a course evaluation requirement, contributed to interaction and engagement. Relying on 104 pre- and 34 post-semester surveys, our analysis revealed that while Twitter was not used as widely as other social media platforms, a notable proportion of students shared positive perceptions about Twitter’s use. Further analysis revealed some polarizing results with recommendations for successfully implementing Twitter in online learning. La participation des étudiants et des étudiantes favorise la communication et l’acquisition des connaissances, concept qui est mis au défi dans l’environnement en ligne du fait qu’il existe peu de possibilités de connecter physiquement les enseignants et les enseignantes avec les apprenants et les apprenantes. Des recherches limitées suggèrent que les médias sociaux sont un outil qui peut affecter positivement la participation des étudiants dans les salles de classe en ligne, ce qui est particulièrement pertinent dans le cas de la pandémie de la COVID-19 et des formats d’apprentissage qui sont passés en ligne. En particulier, Twitter, un format privilégié pour partager les nouvelles, les distractions et le réseautage professionnel, pourrait présenter une plate-forme et une occasion de participation entre les étudiants et étudiantes et les instructeurs et instructrices hors du cadre traditionnel formel de la salle d classe. Cette recherche explore comment les étudiants et les étudiantes du niveau post-secondaire inscrits dans deux cours d’introduction en ligne asynchrones auto-dirigés ont utilisé des outils de médias sociaux pour des besoins personnels, professionnels et universitaires et comment Twitter, en tant qu’exigence d’évaluation de cours, a contribué à l’interaction et à la participation. Notre analyse, basée sur 104 sondages pré-semestre et 34 sondages post-semestre, a révélé que, alors que Twitter n’avait pas été utilisé aussi largement que d’autres plates-formes de médias sociaux, une proportion notoire d’étudiants et d’étudiantes avaient partagé des perceptions positives à propos de l’utilisation de Twitter. Une analyse supplémentaire a révélé certains résultats polarisants avec des recommandations pour une mise en oeuvre réussie de l’utilisation de Twitter dans l’enseignement et l’apprentissage en ligne.

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