Skills and the use of Twitter by higher education students

Abstract

Using Information and Communication Technology (TIC) as a didactic tool that should be integrated into academic business is a growing trend, mainly in higher education, taking into account advantages in terms of access to information and cooperative learning environment to improve knowledge. However, use of this tool by students is not well known; therefore, the purpose of this study was to learn about current status of Twitter use by university students in their learning process. A multi-varied analysis of the variance (MANOVA) was used with orthogonal canon contrast where the sample size was 125 individuals, based on 95% reliability level, and a permissible maximum error of 8.88%; questioned individuals were selected at random, according to genre as balancing factor. A low use of Twitter was found and a relationship between genre and skills on the same, and the concept regarding usefulness in learning (p<0.05); it was found a highly meaningful relationship between possession of Twitter and using purpose (p<0.0001); relationship between genre and using frequency was not found (p>0.05). In general, university students make little use of this technological tool in their learning, and those using it show a low frequency; therefore it is necessary to implement strategies aimed at promoting twitter use and strengthen its benefits to improve academic process. equitable in Argentine and Latin America of the last decade.