Twitter is becoming more popular daily. We have seen effects of Twitter recently with the elections in the Middle East. Twitter is being discussed daily in the papers, on the news, on my favorite morning radio show. It can be used simply to state what one is doing at any given moment (which Aston Kutcher has become well-known for), or it can be used to as a tool. In education it can link teachers to resources as well as other teachers and teaching tools or websites. It can become a discussion board for students to bounce ideas and question off each other. Below are some articles I found that discuss some educational uses for Twitter.
Online Tools for Poetry in the Classroom
Greg Smith, an Instructional Technology Specialist, discusses how he has used Twitter to help teach poetry. He lists and explains the different ideas he received from other teachers’ tweets. He was able to connect with teachers from around the country through Twitter to enhance his poetry unit.
This is a video of Dr. Monica Rankin, a college professor, who uses Twitter during her class of 90 students. She uses it to fuel discussion and to create more interaction between her and her students. One point of particular interest is that she was able to participate and guide her class when she wasn’t even in the same state.
Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class -- via Twitter
Cole Camplese, director of education technology at Penn State, uses Twitter much the same way as seen in the video above (The Twitter Experiment). However, the most interesting part of this article comes afterward. The comments about the article are what interest me. There are comments from supporters and those who oppose Twitter. It is very interesting to see the back and forth commentary. Some commentators appear to be very old-fashioned about how teaching should be done and are very verbal about it, and others want to share and use this in their own classrooms.
Home Alone! Still Collaborating
Mary Ann Bell and Tricia Kuon discuss how technology is important to use in and out of the classroom, particularly in online classrooms. One aspect of this article I found particularly interesting was their step-by-step guide to introducing a new technology. I found it to be very helpful. Twitter was also discussed in terms of collaboration between like minds and making connections.
This website is very useful for new teachers trying to find some meaning in Twitter. When first trying Twitter it can seem like a solely social network; however, if a teacher goes to this website http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/ , they can find other teachers with like interests and content areas who are more than willing to share their thoughts, ideas and lesson plans with one another.
While Twitter can be used for fun and simply wasting away the day with senseless Tweets, it can also be a fantastic collaborating tool connecting people from across the country 140 characters at a time.
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