Running Header: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 1

Student Engagement Through Social Media

Heather Clark
June 16, 2014
Dr. Jo Williamson, Advisor
Kennesaw State University
Summer 2014






STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 2


Introduction
Teaching math in a 21
st
century technology school can be difficult. Many of the
technologies available to teachers, or presented in professional development, do not easily adapt
to a mathematics classroom. The state and county issued pacing guide offer very little room for
creativity. Recently, with the introduction of Common Core GPS standards, the timelines are so
tight that often content needs to be covered after the End of Course Test because there is simply
not enough time to cover all the topics prior to the test. When deciding what to do for the
Capstone the first decision made was which class to focus. This year at New Manchester High
School the options were CCPGS Geometry support, a sophomore class, and a Math II for juniors
who were retaking Math II. It was decided that the Math II class should be the focus for many
reasons. The first and foremost reason was that when the previous math teachers of the students
in this class were consulted as to what was the biggest reason for their unsuccessfulness in math,
they resoundingly reported a lack of homework completion. Black (1996) argues that a main
contributor to student success is the regular completion of homework. Black argues that
homework completion substantially increases student achievement. However, Cooper and
Valentine (2001) take the homework debate a step further and discusses the role of the teacher in
assigning homework. They state that teachers must use their content knowledge and familiarity
with their students to assign homework that will engage the students, not just assign tasks or
busy work. Therefore, if students could be motivated to regularly complete homework,
successes would follow. Once the problem was identified and the class that was the focus on
was decided, the issue becomes how to solve the problem. What could be used to help the
students complete their homework and be successful in math classes? New Manchester High
School is the newest school in Douglas County and has a reputation of being a 21
st
century
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 3


technology school. The administration always encouraged the use of a new and emerging
technology and this Capstone could also fulfill this aspect of the School Improvement Plan.
Further, the students would also be more motivated to try homework if new technologies were
introduced that made homework fun and interesting. After much research, social media became
an obvious choice. Kaitlyn Flad (2010) discusses the influence of social media on student
engagement. She states that the current high school population utilizes social media for
communication purposes. She argues that if teachers can harness the use of social media for
communication and dissemination of information, student achievement would rise. Speckler
(2008) states that web-based tools improve students success rates, including higher levels of
success specifically in mathematics courses. Twiducate is a free resource that allows teachers to
continue their teaching outside of the classroom. Teachers can connect to social media sites to
discuss and post topics, collaborate with other teachers on the same network, and upload
documents via google docs as well as YouTube and images. The idea was to engage students
outside the classroom to motivate them to continue their learning at home. The goal was if the
students were learning at home, they could retain the information for longer periods and apply
the concepts to larger models.
After spending the summer researching Twiducate with all the features it has to offer, and
how it could adapt those feature to benefit a math class, Twiducate seemed like a natural solution
to the problem of homework completion. However, on the first day of classes, the biggest
challenge became apparent; implementation. The Math II repeater class to be the focus of this
Capstone had swelled to forty-one students over the summer. Although confident the class could
be managed as well as the virtual class on Twiducate, getting all forty-one students to respond to
Twiducate and accept it as part of their education was going to be a challenge. The first goal was
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 4


for each student to complete the technology survey that was designed to see how often students
use technology in the classroom, at home, and what technologies were available to them at home.
The results were surprising, and led to the next biggest barrier presented itself; digital inequity.
Many of the students did not have a laptop or desktop computer at home in which to complete
homework and many did not have reliable internet. This was the biggest hurdle that needed to be
overcome. Thankfully, because New Manchester High School is a 21
st
century technology
school, the media center has netbooks available for students to check out and use at home, it
became possible, albeit slowly, to make sure every student had a computer at home to complete
the assignments. Furthermore, the class had a discussion about Wi-Fi hotspots, such as libraries,
banks, and restaurants, where students could go and find reliable internet access. Solving these
early challenges was one of the reasons why there was a delay in implementing Twiducate until
September. However, when the students were prepared, and the Twiducate classroom was up
and running, the next decision was how to introduce the technology to the students which should
be the first assignment. For this, our student feedback survey from the previous year was
consulted. Each year our students complete a survey about the operational aspects of our school.
One of the major areas students recommended we improve upon is celebrating successes. The
students wanted to see more celebration of their accomplishments. It was decided that
Twiducate could accomplish this as the first assignment for the students. After the first
summative assessment, a list of names was posted Twiducate. This was a list of the students
who had mastered the standards. The students then had to log onto Twiducate, set up their
profiles and congratulate the students who mastered their standards. This was a good assignment
to begin with because it allowed students to play with the site while setting up their profiles
without the pressure of an actual deadline. The students responded well.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 5


Analysis of Twiducate in the Math Classroom
Early successes, although promising, were short lived. It was easy to ask students to post
congratulatory comments about their fellow students; however, it was more difficult to get
students to complete actual math homework via the internet. To get the students interested and
excited about Twiducate the second assignments was to have the students research and post a
math video relevant to the standards presented in our class. Each video was then played as a
warm up, over several weeks, and the videos content, the relevant math standards, and video
production was discussed. The students enjoyed this and they found some fun and interesting
videos about math concepts. However, when it came time to actually post homework questions,
interest quickly fell off. The initial idea was to post the homework problems via Twiducate and
then have the students discuss the solution or even possibly help each other derive the answer.
The concept, in theory, was a good one. The students could virtually work collaboratively to
find solutions to homework and struggling students had safe environment to go to if they needed
help. However, this quickly devolved to a few students posting their answers and engaging in
collaboration while the other students copied their work. This became frustrating as there were
only a few students effectively utilizing the technology properly while the others were using it as
a virtual short cut to homework completion. This was disappointing. In order to stem this, an
attempt to offer incentive for effective, thought provoking, insightful posts was initiated. At the
end of each week students would be offered a box of candy as a prize. One winner was
announced for most helpful post, most congratulatory post, best homework explanation, and best
corrective post. The idea was that, with the incentives, the students would make more of an
effort to contribute to the postings. However, the prizes were continuously given as rewards to
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 6


the same students while the others continued to simply copy the solutions from the discussion
boards.
In addition to the barriers already mentioned, digital inequity, difficulty getting students
to buy into the technology and virtual cheating, the biggest barrier was encountered had to do
with the demographics of our county. Douglas County is a low income, high transiency district.
In the Math II class that was the focus of this Capstone, there was a twenty percent increase in
absences above the state average. Further, although the class started at forty-one students, it, at
one point, swelled to forty-five, decreased to thirty-seven, rose to thirty-nine, then fell to thirty-
one. Finally, on the day of the EOCT, there were thirty three students in the class. As a result,
constant stopping occurred, and restarting this experience as the semester continued and students
came in and out of the class. Students would constantly be absent for long stretches and not
complete homework, postings, or would forget their passwords. Students would also transfer in
and new accounts had to be created for them and the process has to be explained all again. It
constantly felt like taking two steps were taken forward and then one step back. Another major
barrier that had to be dealt with was the two week period where a student hacked into the
accounts of other students and attempted to post inappropriate comments. One great feature that
Twiducate offers is preapproval of comments and posts. This helped to prevent these
unfortunate comments from going public and eventually catch who was doing it. Finally, the
biggest barrier that had to be overcome was personal sentiments and attitudes towards this
experiment. Successful implementation of Twiducate was so desired that when aspects of this
Capstone failed, disappointment was devastating. Setbacks were taken personally as it was seen
as a direct reflection on teaching ability. However; when it was realized that one cannot change
all the attitudes and perspectives in one class, personal attitudes were changed. It was realized
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 7


that, with anything, one hundred percent effective usage of Twiducate was never going to be
achieved in one semester. One could never get all of the students to buy-into the technology or
help them realize how helpful it could be if they embraced it. However, an effective teacher
could help the students who did see its potential and help them become more effective users of
this technology.
Initially the success of this experience would be demonstrated through the End of Course
Test results, specifically pass rates. In December when the results came in, The Common Course
Team (CCT) for Math II met to discuss the results. Throughout the semester the CCT for Math
II met biweekly to discuss successes, challenges, student data, at-risk students, program and
pacing alteration, lesson planning, and test scores. In the December meeting, the main topic was
the EOCT scores. Out of the thirty-three students that had taken the EOCT who had participated
in the Twiducate experience, there were eleven that passed. This was a thirty three percent pass
rate. The other team members had a five percent pass rate and an eleven percent pass rate.
Although there are many variables that would contribute to the difference in test scores, some
can be attributed Twiducate. As mentioned earlier, a lot of students simply used Twiducate as a
means of copying answers to assignments. However, the students that effectively utilized
Twiducate to complete assignments, discuss results, analyze solutions had all passed the End of
Course Test. Even though that class had sixty seven percent of the class fail, growth rates of the
students could also be measured. Each student had increased their score from the first time they
had taken the Math II EOCT. Some of the special education students increased their scores from
the low fifties to the high sixties. That would be proximately a twenty percent growth rate. So
even though most of the students failed, the majority of them experienced growth; some
significantly.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 8


Although the results of the EOCT were promising, real success came in the evaluations
of Twiducate. The students completed an evaluation of their Twiducate experience. A template
was used and slight alterations were made. Student honesty was important so the survey was
anonymous. It was important that the students reflect on the experience in the classroom and to
offer insightful feedback so meaningful questions such as The content was presented in
manageable pieces and My teachers expects me to participate were asked. The goal was to
see if the students understood the meaning behind using Twiducate, to see if it was manageable
for the students, and to see if they could relate what we did on Twiducate to what was learned in
the class. Surprisingly most of the students did not make the connections that were anticipated.
Perhaps it was the wording of the questions or perhaps early expectations were not clear in the
beginning or how the technologies used in the class could help them (see Appendix B).
The surveys received from the teachers (Appendix A) after the professional development
conducted on Twiducate were much more promising. The professional development introduced
the teachers to Twiducate, instructed them on how to set up their classes, how to collaborate with
other teachers, how to add students, how to create posts, how to manage profiles, and how to
upload You Tube and Google Docs. It was then demonstrated to the teachers how the
technologies had been used in the Math II class, as well as another class that implemented the
same technology. The survey feedback was much more promising. The teachers seemed to
understand the value of Twiducate and how it can help their classes. During the question and
answer session the biggest concern was helping teachers understand how to motivate their
students to use Twiducate. The incentive strategy was discussed with the teachers as well as
there was an open discussion on how to motivate the students to embrace the technology.
However, it was agreed that the demographics of the class will determine the best successes in
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 9


getting the students motivated to use the technology. For example, a Math II repeater class will
require alternate incentives than an Advanced Placement Economics class. The overall
evaluations from the teachers were favorable, it was understood that each teacher will need to
manipulate the technology to best suit their classrooms.
The Math II repeater class was only a semester course. The course ended in December
with the idea that the students would then move on to Math III. However, this was not the case
for all students. At the beginning of January there were still twenty-five students, out of the
three sections, who had not passed the Math II repeater class. Thus, another Math II class was
formed and although was scheduled to proceed with the Math II class on to Math III, Therefore
another Math II section was assigned for January. There were plans for utilizing Twiducate with
the Math III students in January. Ideally, now that the students had experienced the technology
one could celebrate the successes of those who utilized it diligently in the first semesters and use
it to motivate the other students. Because Math III moved at a slower pace, there could be much
more real world application opportunities using Twiducate. However, these students were not
assigned the Math III class, there was a reassignment of Math II students who had failed the
previous semester. A plan was redeveloped, using the feedback from the students in the first
semester, to use Twiducate in the classroom more effectively. For example the instructor could
post a question with a worked out solution; however, the answer would be wrong and the
students had to find the mistakes in the solution. Alternatively, specific students could be
assigned to a specific problem. The student could ask for help; however, the solution would still
be his/her responsibility. The class started with twenty-five students. However, January and
February saw difficult weather which cancelled school for days in a row. Although
discouraging, it was difficult to keep this project on course with so much lost time. Also, as
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 10


discussed previously, the transiency issue was still a problem which led to other problems in
getting this project started in the New Year. Subsequently the project for the Math II class was
abandoned in February.
In thinking about the new approaching school year, there is much opportunity for
Twiducate many classrooms. There would need to be a new method to facilitate the
implementation of this technology in a much clearer way so the students would know exactly
why they were doing these assignments and how it would help them in the future. Holding
professional development much earlier in the semester so teachers could implement the
technologies sooner in their classrooms would also be held. It would also be helpful to be more
selective of what classes would be chosen with which to demonstrate, facilitate and utilize this
technology. One of the other teachers coached in the use of Twiducate had more success in her
AP economics classroom than in the Math II repeater classroom was simply the demographics of
the class. Students who electively take AP classes, arguably, have more motivation than those
students in Math II for the second, or third, time. Students in AP classes do not have the same
barriers previously encountered such as transiency, high absentee rates, forgotten passwords or
user IDs and overlooked deadlines. Although this technology can be effective in the support or
repeater classes, it was difficult to introduce a technology at an upper level when the students
were not functionally there. Moving forward the technology will be introduced at a more
appropriate level so my students can understand fully what is expected of them and the benefits
they can expect.
Reflection
This Capstone was probably the most difficult assignment of my graduate degree.
Although I learned a lot, implementing Twiducate was difficult to introduce into the classroom.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 11


Most of the difficulties came from the demographics of the class. There was a twenty percent
increase in absences compared to the state average. This led to execution difficulties as students
were often absent for long periods of time which led to forgotten passwords, missed deadlines,
inconsistent usage of the technology. Furthermore, the transiency rate in Douglas County is
high. As a result, new students were constantly transferring in, or out of the class which lead to
constant review of the technology, reminders of the goals of Twiducate technology
implementation, and setting up new profiles for new students. Essentially, what was learned
about technology facilitation in this class was to be consistent. Each week, regardless of the
student population present in class, it was necessary to review the essentials of Twiducate,
review passwords for students, reinforce the importance of the technology, troubleshoot
problems, and emphasize the reasons for using the technology. Although I began doing this to
late in the semester, the problems diminished when ten minutes were taken every Monday
morning to discuss Twiducate.
When facilitating the use of this technology in the Math II class I also learned about
incentives. The goal of Twiducate was to inspire and motivate students to engage in and
encourage the completion of homework. However, it is difficult to promote this with the
demographics of the class. As I leanred about the students in the class it was discovered that
many of the students had valid reasons for not completing homework. For example, more than
one student in the class had younger siblings that needed care after school while the parent(s)
worked. Other students had jobs four or more days a week during the school week. Some
students participated in sports and other extracurricular activities during the week. While this is
not an excuse to not complete the homework, many of the students needed additional incentives
to log onto Twiducate and engage in the conversations occurring. To motivate the students,
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 12


boxes of candy were used. I set out criteria that would win a box of candy at the end of the week
and there would be four boxes given every Friday. Early successes were promising; however,
many students chose to utilize Twiducate as a means of virtual cheating instead of engaging in
the technology learn. From this experience it was learned that getting to know the individual
experiences of each child and their backgrounds was necessary in order to facilitate the
implementation of technology and learn what motivates them to engage in the technology.
Although it was a frustrating experience with the facilitation and implementation of
Twiducate in my classroom, I am still excited about the potential of this technology in other
classes. As part of this Capstone I coached another teacher on the use of this technology. This
teacher is an AP Economics teacher. This teacher had coached me in the past regarding
implementing hew technology in the classroom so I knew that she was open to experimenting in
her own classroom. She was receptive and excited when implementing this technology was
introduced. I worked with her to set up her virtual classroom and organized her students within
the virtual classroom. I also showed her how to use the social media aspect in order to promote
student successes via Twitter and Facebook. She caught on quickly to the nuances of Twiducate
and was eager to try it in her classes. Observations in her class were held during her Twiducate
introduction lesson and her eagerness was infectious. By the end of the class, eighty percent of
her students had successfully used their smartphones to store their passwords, log into
Twiducate, and set up their profiles. When I followed up with this teacher a few weeks later, she
had successfully implemented the first assignment. The students were to listen to a podcast
regarding the weather affecting product marketing and use guided questions to write a reflection.
The teacher had also given a discussion forum rubric to help the students understand their
expectations. Early student feedback on the use of this technology was positive.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 13


Another aspect of this Capstone was leading a professional development session on the
use of this technology in the classroom. I used my coaching experience with the AP Economics
teacher to guide my presentation. A discussion was held about the various features of
Twiducate, how to set up classes, how to collaborate with other teachers or co-teachers, and how
to manage student profiles. Although I had given professional development to teachers at this
school previously as part of another class, this aspect of the Capstone was difficult. It was
challenging to disseminate my excitement and successes with Twiducate to the other teachers.
Another trying aspect was my own confidence. As teachers voiced questions or concerns, I
began to question my abilities and the ability of effective implementation of Twiducate in
various classrooms. Although difficult to initially overcome, with experience, practice, and
confidence, I will be a more assertive and self-assured trainer.
Much was learned about the knowledge a successful instructional technologist must have
in order to be effective. Primarily, a skilled instructional technologist must know their
technology inside and out. This is necessary to not only troubleshoot problems as they arise with
the teachers being coached, but it also builds confidence. The more that is known about the
technology being promoted, the easier coaching and instructing in professional development
sessions becomes. An effective instructional technologist must also know the backgrounds of
the student body as well as the experiences of the teachers being coached. When more
background information was learned about the students while implementing the technology, I
learned why homework completion was so difficult for them. It was not necessarily an issue
with desire or motivation; however, many times other aspects outside the control of the
instruction prevented the student from engaging in the technology. When this is learned, the
instructor can then make alterations to help the students and motivate them to successfully utilize
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 14


and engage in the technology. When working with adults, it is also important that the
instructional technologist understands the backgrounds of the teachers. For example, often the
level of successful past technology implementation is important. This is helpful to know because
if teachers are resisters, then it will be more difficult to motivate them to explore this technology.
However, if a teacher has implemented a new, emerging technology in their classes in the past,
they may be more receptive. When an instructional technologist knows this, professional
development may be guided accordingly.
During this Capstone much was learned about the necessary skills that make a good
instructional technologist. Primarily, when working with the students, knowing how to create
digital equity is important. A number of students were encountered that did not have a computer
at home nor did they have reliable internet access. A good instructional technologist can
successfully solve this problem. New Manchester High School is a 21
st
century technology
school so the students could utilize the media centers netbooks to take home and complete
assignments. Further, a good instructional technologist must also know the neighborhood around
in which they teach in order to help students find reliable, safe internet hotspots to use to access
online tools. Also, an instructional technologist must also be able to motivate and encourage the
technology resisters at the school to try and adopt an emerging technology. A successful
instructional technologist must be able to structure a professional development session that is
exciting and calms the fears of the resisters. To do this they must be able to understand the root
cause of the resistance and work with the teachers to overcome the fears.
A primary attribute that a successful instructional technologist must possess is patience.
It is easy to become frustrated in the face of resistance when introducing the new technology to
both students and teachers. With student resistance, an instructional technologist must also work
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 15


to build relationships with the students to understand their resistance. This also involves a great
deal of patience. In certain demographics, a student may be wary of adults or authority figures
so one needs to be patience when getting to know these students. However, once a students
background is understood, an effective instructional technologist can then alter the use of the
technology or the expectations accordingly. When dealing with adults resisters, one must be
patience when presenting the material, especially when opposition arises. When an instructor
understands the reasons why teachers are resistant to technology, one can alter their presentations
accordingly. Further, when in a coaching situation, the instructional technologist must be able to
read the personality of the one being coached. It is important to know, during a coaching
session, if the teacher is interested to the presentations or if the teacher is unreceptive. There is
no point in trying to continue a coaching session of the teacher is preoccupied or stressed for
measures beyond your control. A successful instructional technologist knows when to continue a
coaching session and when to cut it short.
Twiducate is an excellent emerging technology to use in high schools. It can be engaging
and it can motivate students to complete their homework outside the class. It can also foster
collaboration and offer a safe environment for students to communicate and ask for help. If
another teacher wanted to implement Twiducate in their classroom I would strongly advise them
to really get to know their students and their backgrounds before implementing the technology.
This will help with potential problems down the road. If a teacher and predict possible problems
before they arise, this will help with the students frustration and will also help the students stay
focused. Further, getting to know the demographics and culture of the class can also help
motivate the students. If one understands the make-up of the class, the teacher can then organize
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 16


lessons that are more meaningful to them. The students are more receptive to trying emerging
technologies when it is relevant to them and it offers them a real world application.
Technology implementation was not the only aspect of this Capstone. Professional
development and teacher coaching is a great way to expose teachers to emerging technology.
When one coaches or presents the new technology for the first time, I advise that the presenter be
confident. Ones confidence can be infectious. When presenting, often the presenters
confidence can sway the resisters into trying this new technology. Further, when presenting, one
must also know the audience to which they are presenting. In my experience, the younger
teachers appeared more receptive to Twiducate while the older teachers responded with more
hesitation. If the instructional technology knows the demographic make-up of the session, they
can then gear the presentation to suit that demographic.










STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 17


Reference

Black, S. (1996). The truth about homework. American School Board Journal, 183(10), 48 51.
Cooper, H., & Valentine, J. C. (2001). Using research to answer practical questions about
homework. Educational Psychologists, 36, 143-153
Flad, Kaitlyn, "The Influence of Social Networking Participation on Student Academic
Performance Across Gender Lines" (2010). Counselor Education Master's Theses. Paper
31.
Speckler, M.D. (2008). Making the grade: A compendium of data-driven case studies on the
effectiveness of MyMathLab and MathXL. Retrieved from MathXL website:
http://www.mymathlab. com/makingthegrade_v3.pdf









STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 18


Appendix A
Teacher Technology Survey - TWIDUCATE
In your own words, briefly describe the topic of this professional development session (use the space below):

For each of the following five questions, we ask that you choose a rating from the adjacent scale. Then,
please use the text-entry field to provide a brief example that supports the rating you selected.
1. Overall, this professional development activity
was of high quality i.e., well designed and
implemented.
Please Select a Rating

For example:
2. This activity provided new information about, or
practice with, technology that will improve my own
teaching.
Please Select a Rating

For example:
3. This activity helped me learn to use technology
that will improve students performance.
Please Select a Rating

For example:
4. This session helped increase my ability to teach
to students of all ability levels.
Please Select a Rating

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 19


For example:
5. The facilitator(s)/trainer(s) for this
session added value to the session by
bringing with them new knowledge,
skills, or expertise
Please Select a Rating

For example:
6. If you have any additional comments on this session, please feel free to enter
this information in the space below:










STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 20


Appendix B
Twiducate Survey

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA 21