Monday, June 29, 2009
Using Twitter in the classroom…. gimmick or 21st century educational tool ?
Twitter is making headlines for informing and educating wider society – criteria enough for it to be used in schools....
Twitter initially seemed a poor relation to its higher specification digital family members such as Facebook , Youtube and My Space but in the last year or so Twitter has proved itself as a simpler, smaller but no less influential l form of communication. Significant news and international events first reported via Twitter include the Hudson plane crash, Mumbai hotel bombings and most recently Twitter has been used to get news to the outside world about what is happening on the streets of Iran.
The popularity of Twitter has taken some of the technology experts by surprise in the same way as when the “extra” function on some phones of texting became the more widespread and popular than the primary function of making phone calls.
What does Twitter have to offer in teaching and learning? Twitter allows you to broadcast and receive messages from your computer or mobile phone of 140 characters in length, all those who “subscribe” to your broadcast can see your messages, called a “tweet,” and you receive messages from all those to whom you subscribe. The key point to remember here is this can get sent to your phone, making it highly mobile.
Twitter is based on following the lives of people you don’t know as well as those you do, so immediately can be useful tool for informing both teachers and students about the world. Texting, Facebook and Bebo are about building online friendships and profiles of yourself and friends – they are about the personal . Twitter allows individuals to see into the world of other people – the focus is not about building up a personal relationship but about informing often, anonymously other people about life or events where you are.
A key difference between Twitter and other forms of social networking is that Twitter is broadcasting – trying to reach as many as possible, not narrowcasting to a few chosen people about yourself. This makes it safer for Twitter-ers to be political, subversive and undercover and also safer for schools to use with children and young people – the mantra of not giving out your personal details, or meeting someone you have met online is not needed with Twitter – maybe this is the first social networking service which is more about information that personal profile?
Yes, celebrities use Twitter feeds as part of their PR but these ego boost tweets are not what Twitter is making headlines for. Twitter is making headlines for informing and educating wider society which some would argue is criteria enough for it to be used in schools.
How to use Twitter.
One of the winners of the recently- announced regional heats of The Teaching Awards revealed he used Twitter to leave messages to students about homework and lessons.
All students need to do is sign up to follow their teacher on Twitter, then when the teacher leaves a “tweet” it is automatically sent to their PC or mobile. A straightforward communication tool.
Using Twitter in the curriculum is also underway in schools. The discipline of using only 140 characters to convey a thought or event is seen by many as enhancing use of language and grammar. Teachers and learners can "follow" experts in their chosen fields of study to get direct information and updates. It is possible to put out a question on Twitter and receive hundreds or more responses from which to inform your own understanding. These responses are also likely to be global and pretty instant. There are search facilities to find people to "follow" according to your chosen keywords or areas of learning.
A good place to start is this Powerpoint with practical ideas of how to use Twitter in the classroom. It has been put together by Tom Barrett with conctributions from many teachers in the UK.