An Investigation Into the Reasons Physical Education Professionals Use Twitter

Abstract

Purpose: To date, there have been limited investigations relating to physical education (PE) professionals’ engagement in the use of Twitter. Consequently, the aim of the study was to investigate the reasons PE professionals use Twitter, with questions underpinned by Casey, Goodyear, and Armour’s three-level conceptual classification framework of Pedagogies of Technology. Method: The application of Leximancer text mining software was uniquely employed to text mine the survey data to determine the key themes and concepts. Results: It was discovered that PE professionals perceived the Twitter platform to be highly valuable to connect with others in the profession, learn from others, and share ideas (both within schools and more broadly) via a convenient, usable form of technology. Discussion/Conclusions: Understanding the reasons PE professionals use Twitter can provide a broader understanding for those contemplating the utilization of this platform and inform future Twitter/social media research directions for the field of PE.