The Use of Twitter in Civic Education: (Digital) Citizenship and Student Worth

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Technology, Community Initiatives, and Citizenship Education

Abstract

This research used a social constructivist framework to theorize how established best practices in civic education align with some of the affordances of the social media platform Twitter. The model created from this theoretical work was used in a qualitative research study to examine the effects of teachers’ use of Twitter in civic education. This paper explores how teachers were using Twitter with their students for civic education, and how their teaching with Twitter supports civic engagement. This research showed teachers’ conceptualization of citizenship blended offline and digital citizenship. Further, teachers used Twitter to cultivate students’ understanding of their own worth. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Author

• Amy Lynn Chapman, Teachers College, Columbia University