Scholars are aware of the power of social media to capture the attention of students, notably during lectures. Far from banning them, some teachers have considered using them to improve the motivation of students. One of the most popular social media platforms for that purpose is Twitter. It has been widely used in educational settings as a tool for collaboration and communication, but studies using Twitter as a tool to help students remember course concepts and stimulate their motivation to learn are scarce. In the present study, we conducted a three-year study in a ‘naturalistic’ educational setting using Twitter to remind students of course concepts, and asking questions every week during one semester. Comparing the groups of user and non-user students showed that this Twitter-based method elicited higher intrinsic motivation and interest in the course throughout the semester; importantly, it also reduced amotivation. Some benefits of using Twitter were also observed on learning and academic outcomes. We discuss the benefits and the limits of repurposing social networks for pedagogical activities.

学者们意识到社交媒体吸引学生注意力的力量，尤其是在课堂上。一些教师并没有禁止它们，而是考虑使用它们来提高学生的积极性。为此目的，最受欢迎的社交媒体平台之一是 Twitter。它已被广泛用于教育环境中作为协作和交流的工具，但使用 Twitter 作为帮助学生记住课程概念和激发他们学习动力的工具的研究很少。在本研究中，我们在“自然主义”教育环境中进行了为期三年的研究，使用 Twitter 提醒学生课程概念，并在一个学期内每周提问。比较用户和非用户学生群体表明，这种基于 Twitter 的方法在整个学期中引发了更高的内在动力和对课程的兴趣；重要的是，它也降低了动力。在学习和学术成果方面也观察到使用 Twitter 的一些好处。我们讨论了将社交网络重新用于教学活动的好处和限制。