Friday, June 21, 2013

Twitter

Who knew Twitter could have so many uses within the world of education? I, honestly, had never thought about using Twitter within the classroom. However, after this week’s readings my eyes are opened to a new classroom tool.

Within the article, 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom, author Samantha Miller spells out simple ways a teacher can begin integrating Twitter into classrooms around the globe. Simple ways of making student thinking visible include, posting assignments, problems of the day in vocabulary or math, sample questions for an upcoming assignments to encourage students to research and gather information.

Twitter allows students to socially construct knowledge. Ways of collaborating with others include connecting with other classrooms to work collaboratively, engage parents to keep them abreast of activities, or connect with google earth. The networking possibilities on Twitter are endless. Educators can not only connect with their students and parents but can also connect and collaborate with other educators.

One of the major drawbacks to Twitter is its constant updating. If a student does not have regular access to their account, the frequent posts or “tweets” can be overwhelming to review. This problem is directly related to how many people or organizations the student is ‘following’. It may be beneficial for the students to only follow course work through one account to maintain organization and not miss important information. The 140 character limit on each post may be a challenge for some who have much more to share!

As Miller said, “Twitter’s classroom capabilities are limited only by an educator’s imagination” (p.4).
@KristinSouza1

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