Ideas for using Twitter in your class
Before we launch into a lot of ideas, keep in mind that there are some privacy considerations for using Twitter for your class. The server is in Canada and it is a public micro-blogging tool, so it stands to reason that students need to be careful about what to post and teaching them about the possible consequences of using social media inappropriately is very important. Future job searches, misinterpretation of their posts, inappropriate posts, libel, etc. are considerations. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t post in the public – quite the contrary – but that there are important lessons on how and what to post.
Ideas:
- Sharing important resources with students. For example, students in an MBA or MEd class could easily connect with myriad ideas and resources through Twitter. It can be a remarkable professional development tool.
- One challenge with LMSs such as Moodle, is that they frankly involve skills that students will never use outside of formal education. Putting things in the real world whether on Twitter, blogs, wikis or many other places, is much more akin to what their reality will be post-graduation.
- Authentic materials. Texts are static and while they have a place in education, Twitter is real-time and authentic and posts and ideas from it can spark debate, discussion and research.
- Tags not categories. The internet is moving rapidly toward a paradigm of tags, not categories as a way to connect with information.
- As a research tool: It can help you find relevant material and while like anything on the internet, verification is necessary, it is a powerful tool in that regard if used well.
- Twitter chats: through hashtags, there are many dynamic chats on Twitter on a range of topics.
- Creating a hashtag for your class for discussion and sharing.
- Surveying students
- As a tool for communication between teachers and students.
Here are a links with some other ideas:
10 Amazing Ways For Teachers & Tutors To Use Twitter In Education