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Humanities
- ISSN: 2155-7993
- Journal of Modern Education Review
Integrating Socratic Seminar with Twitter in Teacher Preparation Courses
Timothy B. Watkins
(Delta State University, Cleveland, USA)
Abstract: This paper examines the effectiveness of using Socratic Seminar combined with Twitter Technology in Teacher Preparation Courses to increase the Teacher Candidates’ motivation, engagement, and pedagogy in content reading. This research occurs in two different courses in Delta State University’s Undergraduate Elementary Education Program located in Cleveland, Mississippi. The instructor did not deliver the instruction through traditional lecture. The instructor uses an engaging teaching strategy called Socratic Seminar integrated with Twitter, a free online news and social networking service. This paper addresses the purposes and educational uses of Socratic Seminar and Twitter as utilized in this study. The researcher uses a Survey Research Design to identify whether students feel that they are more motivated and engaged in class discussion when participating in a Socratic Seminar integrating Twitter and whether this participation increases the Teacher Candidates’ pedagogy in content reading. The findings from the analysis of the survey questions show that using Socratic Seminar integrating Twitter does have a positive effect on Teacher Candidates’ motivation, engagement, and pedagogy in content reading.
Key words: Socratic Seminar, Twitter, motivation, engagement, pedagogy, technology
