Twitter in the Classroom. A Good Idea?

In this digital age, social media has become part of many people’s lives.  A considerable number of educators have also begun using social media in schools and classrooms throughout the world to enhance the experience for teachers and students.   Microblogging, through a platform such as Twitter, seems to be one of the ways educators have been integrating social media in their teaching.  It was interesting this week to create my own Twitter account and really begin getting a feel for this microblogging tool.  I also spent time perusing the multitude of resources available to guide teachers in using this tool in the classroom.   

If you’re a teacher who is just beginning to explore the benefits of using Twitter in the classroom, like I am, edudemic’s Ultimate Twitter Guidebook for Teachers is a good place to start.  It contains over 100 tips, apps, and resources for using Twitter all in one place to help you get started.  On sites such as 28 Creative Ways Teachers Are Using Twitter, 60 Inspiring Examples of Twitter inthe Classroom, and 36 Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom, I got several ideas for ways Twitter could be used effectively in the classroom.  I must say that  I don’t necessarily think everything on the sites is a wonderful idea. For example, I don't understand why you would use it to communicate with someone in the same room or classroom you are, especially at the K-12 level.  For adults, I can see an argument for using it in very few specific situations like tweeting questions to a lecturer in a large lecture hall in a university or at a conference, for instance, but for younger students who are rarely in this type of situation, I don't really see it.  If you are in the same room, can't you just talk to the people in the room or write on a piece of paper or use whiteboards? I see for certain activities it might make it easier to have a record of what you have done, but mostly it seems to open up the possibility of distractions and off-task behavior.  I do think there are many more practical applications for when people are not in the same physical space, however, or for extending learning to outside the classroom.  Here are a few of the things mentioned in the articles I did think might be useful for language teachers....

Interaction with Other Educators

Teachers and leaders in education who would never have had the opportunity to meet one another now have the opportunity to engage in discussions and even professional development online.  One of the ways that educators can do this is to participate in any number of ‘Twitter chats’. Twitter chats are scheduled events or conversations that use a specific hashtag in an attempt to organize a conversation around a particular topic.  Since I've had my "professional" Twitter account that I created just this week, I've been following educators I find interesting.  I have definitely been able to find out new ideas and perspectives that I wouldn't normally have found unless I had this account.  

Communication with Parents 

Parents can sign up to receive tweets from the teacher to keep them informed about what is going on in class and keep them updated about deadlines.

Interaction with People from Around the World 

Beyond facilitating communication within the course itself, teachers may like the idea of connecting with similar ones in other cities, states or even countries. Through Twitter (and set up by the teacher), students can engage with students in other classrooms around the world.
 
"Twit-lit" 
 
The 140-character limit offers a nice little challenge for students and innovative educators have taken notice. Whether writing poetry, short stories or something else entirely, Twitter’s unique structure offers up some excellent ways to stimulate creativity.  Some instructors ask class participants to set up real or imaginary feeds roleplaying as significant figures in history or literature, approaching microblog technology "in character" as in this example. One could easily incorporate scientists, artists, and plenty more into the fold as well.  In a language classroom, students could create twitter conversations as an alternative to the traditional dialogues that are often used in language classes.  I’ve also used the ‘six-word memoir’ with language classes.  Maybe the ‘140 character memoir’ is the modern version of this? 

Group Story Making

This is a way to practice students' writing  and creative thinking skills. The teacher can start the story with a sentence, and then the students can each add sentence to continue the story. In this way, the class can create their own class story. 

________of the Day 

The teacher can post an idiom, vocabulary word, quote, or something else "of the day". This can be an excellent supplement to the day’s lesson. If parents are also connected, they can be encouraged to talk about these things at home as well.

These are some starting points for using Twitter in the classroom.  What other ways have you found to engage through microblogging?