Monday, March 2, 2009

Why Can't We Use Twitter for Educational Activities?

I read the article "Can We Use Twitter for Educational Activities?" by: Gabriela Grosseck and Carmen Holotescu (http://www.scribd.com/doc/2286799/Can-we-use-Twitter-for-educational-activities). I liked this article because it provided in depth uses and explanations of Twitter as an educational tool. Not only will it engage students but it is an innovative an unique way to promote writing with activities such as collaborative writing. Not to mention that you can collaborate with classrooms across the world! It also requires the skill of writing concisely, where Tweets are usually no more than 140 characters. Students will learn to get to the point with a sufficient summary. It provides an opportunity to further the instruction outside of the classroom by sending "Tweets" to cell phones too. Students can work on projects on Twitter and receive updates as they go. This is beneficial for the instructor as well, not to mention if the classroom is set up through Twitter the teacher can send updates on homework and tests and such. It is a new and exciting way to to stay connected with your students and engage them in active learning. Knowing our students' love for technology, I think of the old saying, "If you can't beat'em, join'em." Well why not get on the same page with you students and try incorporating the use of Twitter in your classroom. One would be surprised to see what your students' know and how familiar they will be with this tool. This could enhance learning in so many ways!

Another article I found was a PowerPoint in google docs on 19 Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom (http://docs.google.com/Present?) . They tell you how to use Twitter to "gather real-world data," use "twitterfall.com," use "historicaltweets.com," "twitterpolls," and "Word Morphs." As I said previously the possibilities are endless and it is so easy to do! You can go on a field trip through "twideo" or speak to the experts ("NASA , NASA Fellows (teachers who work on NASA projects.) They're Twitter-friendly")

What I want to know is, why not use Twitter in the Classroom?

1 comment:

  1. Gabrielle,
    Twitter certainly does present a tool whose usefulness is just beginning to be harnessed.
    Dr. Burgos

    ReplyDelete