Twitter

Twitter, a social networking tool which has been embraced by many across the globe is now being embraced in the classroom. It is a communication tool in which it's users are referred to as twitters. I thought being called a "Twit" in the classroom would be highly offensive, not anymore. It would mean you are up to date and on the cutting edge of technology innovations in your class. You would be able to communicate quickly, briefly(only 140 characters per tweet allowed) and directly to another "Twit" signed on to Twitter. It is free innovation requiring you only to sign up and then you are in and able to network with the world of Twitters!

A number of schools are using it in interesting ways. At a school level communication happens immediately and information is very current. One school posted the status of a class on excursion and how things were going for them. Mother's comment to teachers about their issues of the day regarding their child's well being and teacher's comment to students to remind or prompt them regarding assignments or coming events for the day.

At a classroom level teacher's are using Twitter to develop language skills by giving a story intro or conversation starter, then having the class add to these taking turns to tweet. Sounds like a motivating way to get reluctant writers writing and limits the more verbose to 140 characters. Twitter is being used for dictionary meaning exercises and other English related exercises, like giving synonyms for words. It is used for brainstorming also sharing useful websites and links related to studies. It sounds like a creative teacher, well supported with the technology in the classroom could use Twitter in interesting and motivating ways.

Using technology in the classroom like this is a very relevant teaching tool and one I think would connect well with the students who live in such an advanced techno world. However how long does it take for them to realize they are still doing work and find ways to sabotage your teaching methods? It would need to be well supervised. I didn't see any way of monitoring it's use with a history tool like the Wikki pages and Google Docs offer. I like the fact that the Twitter page can be made private and I think that would be necessary for a class group.

Well I find my social life full enough and a mobile phone handier to send my brief but informative messages out so I won't be Tweeting. But thanks for enlightening me to the world of "Twits"!!