Using Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter is a micro social networking utility that can be used to share ideas and information (using 140 characters or less for each post). I am new to twittering…tweeting? Ha! Not sure. Anyways, here are links to 5 great resources that will help explain more in depth what Twitter is and how it can be used in education.

Pupils to study Twitter and blogs in primary schools shake-up
This article is about the change primary schools in England are proposing. They want their curriculum to include the use and mastery of some web 2.0 tools. Part of the proposal would require, “children in England to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication.” That’s sounds to me like they are headed in the right direction.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education
I thought this would be appropriate since it is a blog about Twitter. This blog has ideas for getting started on Twitter, ideas about what to tweet, tips to keep your sanity while tweeting, and negatives and positives about Twitter. Here are some samples:

-Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
-Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
-Promote your students’ stories, but be careful to maintain anonymity, particularly with kids.
-Twitter can augment parent feedback.

Using Twitter as an Education Tool
This is a highly motivating article to read if you plan to use Twitter in your classroom. The author, Roy Jones, complied stories and reflections teachers had when they used Twitter in their classrooms. The first example is about a teacher that reluctantly tried using Twitter in his classroom, but then discovered that it brought about a sense of “classroom community” that was not limited just to the classroom.

It was nice to read about positive examples teachers had using Twitter.

How ‘microblogging’ sites such as Twitter can be used in education
This article goes over 3 useful web 2.0 tools that can be used in the classroom: Twitter, Edmodo, and Shout ‘Em. Since I briefly described what Twitter is, I’ll explain the information given in this article about Edmodo and Shout ‘Em.

Edmodo is a tool that can help you set assignments for students, manage classes, and grade students’ work. “Edmodo provides a way for teachers and students to share notes, links, and files. Teachers have the ability to send alerts, events, and assignments to students.”

Shout ‘Em enables you to have a private community that isn’t as complicated as other social networking sites. Included in this article is a Shout ‘Em demo video that is very informative.

Twitter for Education
This last article describes what Twitter is and some practical uses it has for education. It also has some great links to more information about Twitter.

I included this piece of writing because I located it on my own Twitter page (it was posted by my fellow classmate). I think that shows first hand how twitter can be used to share information.

Thanks for reading. I hope it was informative.