What do U.S. and Spanish pre-service teachers think about educational and professional use of Twitter? A comparative study

This mixed-methods study explored pre-service teacher (PST) perceptions of educational and professional uses of the social media platform Twitter. PSTs (N = 153) from two universities in the United States and Spain used Twitter for course assignments. Most participants from both contexts perceived Twitter to have useful educational applications and intended to use it for their own professional purposes in the future. PSTs were more ambivalent regarding Twitter use with their future students. U.S. students held significantly more positive beliefs about Twitter's educational use. We discuss implications for Twitter use in education and teacher education in an era of ubiquitous social media.