Twitter in the Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging Classroom: Examination Outcomes and Student Views

Abstract

Radiographic lesion identification and differential diagnosis list generation can be difficult for veterinary students; thus, a novel means of distributing cases for study could improve students’ engagement and learning. The goal of this study was to determine whether using Twitter as an adjunct means of studying diagnostic imaging would improve student outcomes on the final exam for a radiology course. A secondary goal was to determine students’ preferred means of accessing additional cases for study. Twitter was used in a third-year veterinary radiology course to provide additional optional radiographic cases that were relevant to the topics covered in the course. At the end of the semester, students completed a survey to report their prior and current use of Twitter and to give preferences as to further distribution of optional cases. Mean final examination scores were compared between students who used Twitter in their studies and those who did not. No significant difference was found between the mean final examination score for each group (22.2; p = .98). Only 3% of respondents ( n = 2/79) preferred Twitter as a means of receiving additional radiographic cases; Moodle (the Web platform for classwork used at this institution) and Facebook were the most preferred platforms for further cases, receiving 41% ( n = 32/79) and 23% ( n = 18/79) of votes, respectively. Educational use of Twitter did not improve student examination performance in diagnostic imaging, and other media platforms may be more beneficial than Twitter for encouraging student use of additional resources.