Use of Social Media to Manage Out‐of‐Class Discussion

Abstract

Discussion is potentially the least used of the science educator's tools. The cause of this is multifaceted, but the reality remains that some topics, such as ethics, or current events, are often best approached through discussion. Unfortunately, discussions consume valuable class time and many science educators are uncomfortable directing or managing classroom discussions. Social media provides a forum through which it is simple to generate a discussion group for a class or combination of sections, and manage discussions outside of the classroom. Advantages of using social media include flexibility and ease of use for students, ability to return to a conversation at any point in the future, ability to manage conversations and quantitate contributions, and provide students that would otherwise not speak up in class a voice. This technique has been used with positive results in both general chemistry and an honors non‐majors course.