Twitter as a Tool for Teaching and Communicating Microbiology: The #microMOOCSEM Initiative †
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Authors:
Ignacio López-Goñi1,*,
Ma José Martínez-Viñas2,
Josefa Antón3,
Víctor J. Cid4,
Ana Martín González5,
Maryury Brown-Jaque6,
Juan M. García-Lobo7,
Manuel Sánchez8,
Juan Ignacio Vilchez9,
Tatiana Robledo-Mahón9,
Marina Seder-Colomina10,
Silvana Teresa Tapia-Paniagua11,
Alma Hernández de Rojas12,
Alejandro Mira13,
José Jesús Gallego-Parrilla14,
Teresa María López Díaz15,
Sergi Maicas i Prieto16,
Eduardo Villalobo17,
Guillermo Quindós18,
Sabela Balboa19,
Jesús L. Romalde19,
Clara Aguilar-Pérez20,
Anna Tomás21,
María Linares22,
Óscar Zaragoza23,
Jéssica Gil-Serna5,
Raquel Ferrer-Espada1,
Ana I. Camacho1,
Laura Vinué24,
Jorge García-Lara25
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Published 02 December 2016
- ©2016 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
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[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
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Supplemental materials available athttp://asmscience.org/jmbe - *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Universidad de Navarra, C/ Irunlarrea n∘ 1, 31008, Pamplona, Spain. Phone: +34 948 425600. E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract:
Online social networks are increasingly used by the population on a daily basis. They are considered a powerful tool for science communication and their potential as educational tools is emerging. However, their usefulness in academic practice is still a matter of debate. Here, we present the results of our pioneering experience teaching a full Basic Microbiology course via Twitter (#microMOOCSEM), consisting of 28 lessons of 40-45 minutes duration each, at a tweet per minute rate during 10 weeks. Lessons were prepared by 30 different lecturers, covering most basic areas in Microbiology and some monographic topics of general interest (malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, etc.). Data analysis on the impact and acceptance of the course were largely affirmative, promoting a 330% enhancement in the followers and a >350-fold increase of the number of visits per month to the Twitter account of the host institution, the Spanish Society for Microbiology. Almost one third of the course followers were located overseas. Our study indicates that Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) via Twitter are highly dynamic, interactive, and accessible to great audiences, providing a valuable tool for social learning and communicating science. This strategy attracts the interest of students towards particular topics in the field, efficiently complementing customary academic activities, especially in multidisciplinary areas like Microbiology.
References & Citations
Supplemental Material
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Appendix 1: Table 1. Twitter course syllabus
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MyBook is a cheap paperback edition of the original book and will be sold at uniform, low price.
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Appendix 2: Figure 3. Image captures of representative tweets posted during #microMOOCSEM course
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MyBook is a cheap paperback edition of the original book and will be sold at uniform, low price.
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456.32 Kb
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Appendix 3: Table 2. Structure of #microMOOCSEM lessons
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MyBook is a cheap paperback edition of the original book and will be sold at uniform, low price.
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PDF
456.32 Kb
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Appendix 4: Table 3. Activity of the Twitter account @SEMicrobiologia before and after the course
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MyBook is a cheap paperback edition of the original book and will be sold at uniform, low price.
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PDF
456.32 Kb
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Appendix 5: Figure 4. Evolution of the number of followers of the @SEMicrobiologia Twitter account
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MyBook is a cheap paperback edition of the original book and will be sold at uniform, low price.
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PDF
456.32 Kb
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PDF
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Abstract:
Online social networks are increasingly used by the population on a daily basis. They are considered a powerful tool for science communication and their potential as educational tools is emerging. However, their usefulness in academic practice is still a matter of debate. Here, we present the results of our pioneering experience teaching a full Basic Microbiology course via Twitter (#microMOOCSEM), consisting of 28 lessons of 40-45 minutes duration each, at a tweet per minute rate during 10 weeks. Lessons were prepared by 30 different lecturers, covering most basic areas in Microbiology and some monographic topics of general interest (malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, etc.). Data analysis on the impact and acceptance of the course were largely affirmative, promoting a 330% enhancement in the followers and a >350-fold increase of the number of visits per month to the Twitter account of the host institution, the Spanish Society for Microbiology. Almost one third of the course followers were located overseas. Our study indicates that Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) via Twitter are highly dynamic, interactive, and accessible to great audiences, providing a valuable tool for social learning and communicating science. This strategy attracts the interest of students towards particular topics in the field, efficiently complementing customary academic activities, especially in multidisciplinary areas like Microbiology.

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Author and Article Information
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Published 02 December 2016
- ©2016 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
-
[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
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Supplemental materials available athttp://asmscience.org/jmbe - *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Universidad de Navarra, C/ Irunlarrea n∘ 1, 31008, Pamplona, Spain. Phone: +34 948 425600. E-mail: [email protected].
Figures
Number of Twitter daily impressions during the time that the course was active. Impressions refer to the number of times that users visualized a particular tweet with the hashtag #microMOOCSEM. Peaks coincide with broadcasting days. During the time that the course was active, the Twitter account of the SEM received a total of 4,420,172 impressions and over 175,000 visits. SEM = Spanish Society for Microbiology.

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FIGURE 1
Number of Twitter daily impressions during the time that the course was active. Impressions refer to the number of times that users visualized a particular tweet with the hashtag #microMOOCSEM. Peaks coincide with broadcasting days. During the time that the course was active, the Twitter account of the SEM received a total of 4,420,172 impressions and over 175,000 visits. SEM = Spanish Society for Microbiology.
Number of questions correctly answered. Data from 68 questions are included. The results show the percentage of followers (virtual students) who answered correctly. More than 90% of virtual students correctly answered 16 questions, and more than 50% correctly answered 62 questions. None of the questions had a 100% failure score.

Click to view
FIGURE 2
Number of questions correctly answered. Data from 68 questions are included. The results show the percentage of followers (virtual students) who answered correctly. More than 90% of virtual students correctly answered 16 questions, and more than 50% correctly answered 62 questions. None of the questions had a 100% failure score.