WP3

Genre Transformation

Twitter Might Actually Be Making You Smarter

By Buzzfeed Staff: Beatriz Ulloa

Who would have thought that the day would come where Twitter would actually be making us smarter!?!? Those twitter rants may be a way to stay more engaged in school. Say what?!

It turns out that a group of researches conducted an experiment to see what effect tweeting can have on the way we learn and engage with the topics in class. They performed experiments and calculations to understand how twitter can affect our intelligence.

The experiment involved them checking out the interactions between the experimental group with twitter and engagement in the classroom.

And guess what they found?!?! Twitter is not making us completely brain dead

In the experiment they found that the students that engaged with the subject outside the classroom using twitter on average ended up getting better grades than the control group that did not use twitter.

So for all those who doubted the twitter generation. Where is the apology?

Adult Version

Parenting Magazine

Let’s Talk About Twitter

It seems like just yesterday our children were focused on learning how to take their first steps doesn’t it? Before we know it our children are in college and we are no longer always physically there to take care of our little babies. We are told time after time to protect our young adults from social media, but that may not always be the case.

My daughter always talks about how no one her age actually goes on facebook, and that’s why she prefers twitter. I myself am an avid facebooker and love to scroll down my “feed”, so I never understood the purpose of writing my thoughts for the world to see in only 140 characters. I never really had the urge to understand twitter either, because I didn’t think it was a productive use of time. The matter of the fact though, is that much like other social media websites, twitter may indeed be playing a role in the way our children interact. In fact, there may be a more productive side of twitter that may positively influence college students grades.

According to some research, evidence has been found that links better grades with the use of twitter. The study found that the students that used twitter were more likely to ponder about subjects in school when twitter was involved. The study proved that it can be beneficial for professors and students to develop twitter interactions to boost grades and participation. I am always trying to encourage my daughter to participate more during class discussions, so I am open to introduction of twitter as a device used in the classroom. Of course if Twitter turns out to be more a distraction than a tool, I won’t hesitate to talk to my daughter about it. I encourage you all to have an open conversation with your child about how Twitter can be used in a positive way.

Your Fellow College Momma-

Beatriz

To read more about the experiment click the link below

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x/suppinfo

Warning: This reflection will be longer than 140 characters ;)

You may have guessed it already, but I’ll tell you anyways. My WP3 topic was primarily about twitter and how it can be used as a positive tool in a college setting. I used the article, “The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades” as a base for my two transformed articles. I chose to write a buzzfeed article that’s directed towards students that are going into college or around college age. For the older audience I chose to write an online advice article that can be found on a website such as Parenting Magazine for parents with college-aged children. Throughout the process I utilized the knowledge that I had retained from class and the other writing projects. I realized that each move I made had the power to transform a piece into a different genre.

“The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades” by  R. Junco, G. Heiberger and E.Loken investigates the effect that twitter has as an interactive tool in a college setting classroom. They decided that there was a lack of empirical evidence about twitter use and grade performance, so they carried out an experiment to analyze the relationship. The study takes course in a college classroom over the course of an academic semester. The students in the study that used twitter to engage with the professors and the subject matter actually received better grades than the students in the group that did not use twitter at all. The results of the experiment conclude that when used appropriately twitter can enhance the way that college students learn. The evidence that they found was that twitter enabled students to think about the class topics beyond the classroom.

As a college student I found it easier to compose the buzzfeed article, because I knew what I expected as the audience. I am also more familiar with buzzfeed articles so I have noticed certain components that set them apart from other articles. Buzzfeed articles usually start out with attention grabbing headlines that discuss a topic that readers may be interested about. In this case I mentioned how twitter could be making YOU smarter to emphasize how this article may be relatable to the general audience. The you adds a personal touch and enables a relationship to be established between the author (me) and the college aged student scrolling down buzzfeed. I gave myself the title of “Buzzfeed Staff” to give myself credibility as a professional writer for Buzzfeed. To further add to my credibility I hyperlinked the experiment that I based the article on, so that the readers have the ability to read it if they are interested. The hyperlink is a useful tool that many of buzzfeed articles use, and it also saves the writer space from having to go in depth about the original article.

The content of the article was straight-forward. In his illustrated article McCloud talks about how framing changes the way that a topic is presented. The framing that I used for this piece was more zoomed out and gave less detail while still giving a general idea of the topic. I chose not to include too many details, because Buzzfeed articles tend to be on the shorter side. I told the reader what the results were, but did not go into detail about how the experiment was designed and how the data was analyzed to reach a conclusion.

Throughout my Buzzfeed piece I made sure to keep a comical, light-hearted tone. I wanted the piece to be informational, but also funny at the same time so I included gifs throughout to help narrate the summary of the original experiment. I also used a lot of ?!!?! to convey my excitement in hopes that the reader would feel excited as well. My main goal was to entertain by giving students news that they probably hadn’t heard before.

The second transformation I did was a Parenting Magazine online article. I am not too familiar with parenting magazines, so I had to go online to look at their general format and at the moves that they make. I chose to base my off an article that is giving an “inside” scoop about parenting. The main purpose of this article is to inform parents about a study that could potentially help their children. I chose to portray myself as a mom to appeal to the ethos of other parents. A parent writer also has experience with dealing with college aged children, which gives the reader a reason to relate. At the beginning of the article, I used the phrase “little babies” to incite nostalgia and to tap into the common primal yearning that parents have to take care of their children. I included a personal story and the mention of a daughter so that the reader got to know a little about who they were receiving their advice from and therefore would feel less hesitant to follow advice from someone they have never met.

In the second part of the article I gave some information about the article that I was getting my information from. I kept the summary brief and factional those sentences to enhace my logos. Afterwards I described the steps that I was going to take with own my child to bring the article back to a personal level. I finish off with my final words of advice, so that’s the last thing that audience reads and (hopefully) remembers. I also attach a link to the original article, so that the information is easily accessible if the parents want to read more about the topic.

As I wrote this reflection I was forced to think about all the details that go into writing a piece for a specific audience. I had to think about conventions within both of the different genres, but most importantly why those conventions are in place. Even though the goal of the buzzfeed article was to entertain, and the goal of the parenting article was to give advice their conventions are both in place to meet their goals. In order to meet these said goals, I had to write for the distinct audience. All in all each piece of writing is made out of tiny moves that creative a cohesive work for the desired audience.