What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social network, or microblog, that allows users to post text messages up to 140 characters, AKA “tweets.” The site was launched in 2006 and currently has over 500 million users worldwide. Even though Twitter is limited to 140 characters per tweet, it can get the point across to students in a quick manner. Twitter is a great way to gain knowledge in specific areas of interest; Just follow the topics or people that you find interesting and their tweets will show up on your personal feed. Twitter has many other features which make it a great resource for any classroom environment. Hashtags (#) are one feature that help sort ideas together from many people who tweet about that same topic. Twitter chat is a feature that allows someone to chat with only one person. Twitter is a new network in it's peak years. The site is likely to evolve as time goes on, giving the education world many more opportunities to use Twitter.
Why Use Twitter? Benefits to Twitter in the Classroom
There are many reasons why Twitter is a great benefit to a classroom environment. This video highlights how one teacher in Minneapolis, MN is using social networks, like Twitter, in her high school classroom.
Twitter is an instant way to communicate with your students, and it is very brief, which forces the user to get straight to the point. Such a brief statement is a great way for students to summarize ideas or chapters of texts. If the students can highlight the main points of something in 140 characters or less, you can ensure they have a great understanding of that topic. The limited characters is also a great way for students to learn how to take efficient notes in a small amount of words.
Twitter can be a great way for students and teachers to communicate with each other, in and out of the classroom. If a student has a question or issue with work, they could tweet their teacher a question. Other classmates may also be able to clarify the student's issue. Teachers can post assignments on Twitter, as well as any announcements that everyone in the class needs to know. No only can the teacher communicate with students, but parents can follow the teacher as well. Twitter also allows shy students to directly message the teacher any questions that they might be hesitant to ask while in class.
Hashtags are a great feature of Twitter. "With the use of a simple hastag (#), it becomes incredibly easy to curate tweets, giving students an easy way to follow the infomration that is associated with a specific class (Messieh)." The already sorted lists give students a quick look at what other people are saying about the same topic. Teachers can also use hashtags to share ideas with each other.
Many young students today use Twitter for social purposes, making it appealing to them. Teachers can use this interest to motivate students about certain topics that might otherwise be uninteresting to them.
Twitter is an instant way to communicate with your students, and it is very brief, which forces the user to get straight to the point. Such a brief statement is a great way for students to summarize ideas or chapters of texts. If the students can highlight the main points of something in 140 characters or less, you can ensure they have a great understanding of that topic. The limited characters is also a great way for students to learn how to take efficient notes in a small amount of words.
Twitter can be a great way for students and teachers to communicate with each other, in and out of the classroom. If a student has a question or issue with work, they could tweet their teacher a question. Other classmates may also be able to clarify the student's issue. Teachers can post assignments on Twitter, as well as any announcements that everyone in the class needs to know. No only can the teacher communicate with students, but parents can follow the teacher as well. Twitter also allows shy students to directly message the teacher any questions that they might be hesitant to ask while in class.
Hashtags are a great feature of Twitter. "With the use of a simple hastag (#), it becomes incredibly easy to curate tweets, giving students an easy way to follow the infomration that is associated with a specific class (Messieh)." The already sorted lists give students a quick look at what other people are saying about the same topic. Teachers can also use hashtags to share ideas with each other.
Many young students today use Twitter for social purposes, making it appealing to them. Teachers can use this interest to motivate students about certain topics that might otherwise be uninteresting to them.
Examples of Twitter in the Classroom
Below is a list of specific ideas on how to use Twitter in your classroom. This list is just a few highlighted ideas, there are many more ways to use Twitter than just the ones listed below:
- Create a Twitter account for your whole class to post questions or comments about a specific topic you are discussing in class.
- Follow a specific topic or issue as a class in order to supplement in class discussions and readings
- Tweet updates about due dates or assignments
- Use Twitter for a live debate with other classes in other locations
- Share important links with students, parents, or other professionals
- Use tweets to summarize a chapter or section that was just covered. At the end of the unit, pick out the best summaries of each section to make a unit review
- Continue in-class discussions on Twitter
- Create an online scavenger hunt with tweets. "Teachers can tweet out clues that lead to other Twitter users who are participating in the scavenger hunt. Each user is already prepared with a clue, so that students can easily maketheir way from one use to the next, to reach their final destination (Messieh).
- Create biographies for students, or for characters in a book the class is reading
- Provide a quick review of what was covered in the previous lesson or class
- Tweet a preview for what will be covered in that days lesson or class
- Class Notepad: Can be used for creative writing classes, etc to post thoughts or inspirations
- Follow a famous celebrity or political figure
- Grammer lessons: Many people use improper grammer due to the limited characters in tweets. Use this as a teaching exercise for English class.
- Follow a certain word and all tweets that contain that word will show up in your feed
Making Twitter Work in Your Classroom
Before incorporating Twitter into your classroom, a few considerations must be taken into account. You must decide how you want to use it and teach the students these skills. It is also important to maintain the use if you want it to be effective in an educational setting and as a resource for your students.
Twitter can be accessed on a computer or on a mobile device connected to the Internet. In order to use tweets as an educational tool, you must ensure that all students have access to the internet. If a student does not have a mobile device or computer at home, maybe make arrangements for them to use the Internet before or after school in order to use Twitter for school activities.
Most schools have firewalls that block students from accessing certain websites. In order to effectively use Twitter and other social networks you will have to talk to administration to see what sites are blocked and if these sites can be unblocked or if there is a way around it. Another suggestion would be to have parental permission from each student as well as setting rules and limits for the students in a contract that they should sign before beginning use in the classroom.
To get started, each student will need to make a username for their Twitter account. In order to create an account, each user needs an active email address as well. Make your students set their privacy settings to limit it just to people in the class, in order to keep the focus of their account on the class material. Personal accounts should be kept separate.
In a study done by Dr. Rey Junco, a conclusion was drawn that these three points are best practices for using Twitter in the classroom:
Teachers must participate in order to see a difference.
If teachers don't engage on Twitter, they will not see a difference in student outcome.
Twitter must have structure when used in education.
If a teacher uses Twitter, they must organize it in a way that the students can understand how to use it for an educational purpose.
Twitter use must be required by all.
When Twitter use is optional for students, student outcome is not improved.
Twitter can be accessed on a computer or on a mobile device connected to the Internet. In order to use tweets as an educational tool, you must ensure that all students have access to the internet. If a student does not have a mobile device or computer at home, maybe make arrangements for them to use the Internet before or after school in order to use Twitter for school activities.
Most schools have firewalls that block students from accessing certain websites. In order to effectively use Twitter and other social networks you will have to talk to administration to see what sites are blocked and if these sites can be unblocked or if there is a way around it. Another suggestion would be to have parental permission from each student as well as setting rules and limits for the students in a contract that they should sign before beginning use in the classroom.
To get started, each student will need to make a username for their Twitter account. In order to create an account, each user needs an active email address as well. Make your students set their privacy settings to limit it just to people in the class, in order to keep the focus of their account on the class material. Personal accounts should be kept separate.
In a study done by Dr. Rey Junco, a conclusion was drawn that these three points are best practices for using Twitter in the classroom:
Teachers must participate in order to see a difference.
If teachers don't engage on Twitter, they will not see a difference in student outcome.
Twitter must have structure when used in education.
If a teacher uses Twitter, they must organize it in a way that the students can understand how to use it for an educational purpose.
Twitter use must be required by all.
When Twitter use is optional for students, student outcome is not improved.
Bibliography
Dunn, J. (n.d.). 100 Ways to Use Twitter in Education. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from
http://edudemic.com/2012/04/100-ways-to-use-twitter-in-education-by-degree-of-difficulty/
Junco, R. (2012, March 21). Twitter 101: Best Practices in Using Twitter in the Classroom
Infographic. Retrieved July 22, 2012, from Social Media in Higher Education website:
http://blog.reyjunco.com/twitter-101-best-practices-in-using-twitter-in-the-classroom-infographic
Messieh, N. (2011, 06 23). How to use Twitter in the Classroom. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from
http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2011/06/23/how-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom/
Swanson, R. (2011, 06 26). Can you use Twitter in your Classroom? [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2011/06/can-you-use-twitter-in-your-classroom.html
Twitter in the Classroom. (2009, March 25). Retrieved July 17, 2012, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-4OxIz_3o3O0.
Walsh, K. (2010, February 7). Over 100 Ideas to Teach with Twitter. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from
http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/02/100-ways-to-teach-with-twitter/
http://edudemic.com/2012/04/100-ways-to-use-twitter-in-education-by-degree-of-difficulty/
Junco, R. (2012, March 21). Twitter 101: Best Practices in Using Twitter in the Classroom
Infographic. Retrieved July 22, 2012, from Social Media in Higher Education website:
http://blog.reyjunco.com/twitter-101-best-practices-in-using-twitter-in-the-classroom-infographic
Messieh, N. (2011, 06 23). How to use Twitter in the Classroom. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from
http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2011/06/23/how-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom/
Swanson, R. (2011, 06 26). Can you use Twitter in your Classroom? [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2011/06/can-you-use-twitter-in-your-classroom.html
Twitter in the Classroom. (2009, March 25). Retrieved July 17, 2012, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-4OxIz_3o3O0.
Walsh, K. (2010, February 7). Over 100 Ideas to Teach with Twitter. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from
http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/02/100-ways-to-teach-with-twitter/