100 Ways To Use Twitter In Education, By Degree Of Difficulty Twitter may have started off as a fun social media site for keeping up with friends and sharing updates about daily life, but it’s become much more than that for many users over the past few years as the site has evolved and grown. These days, Twitter is a powerhouse for marketing, communication, business, and even education, letting people from around the world work together, share ideas, and gain exposure. It has become a staple at many online colleges and campuses as well, leaving many academics wondering just how and if they should be using Twitter both in the classroom and in their professional lives. So we’ve revised our our original 2009 list to get you started or up to date. Whether you’re an academic or just interested in building your Twitter profile, keep reading to learn some tips and tricks that can help you take the first steps towards using Twitter for coursework, research, building a professional network, and beyond. The Basics Organize your Twitter. Etiquette Connecting
Tweeting Your way to Academic Success Twitter is one of those pieces of technology that people either love or hate. For the haters, it seems like a superfluous, narcissistic, even petty platform through which people who think they are more important than they really are share their most intimate details with the world. For those who love the medium, it is a way of filtering and digesting a vast world of digital information quickly and efficiently. Some even see it as a possible vehicle for changing the world. Others have begun using Twitter in education with positive results. A recent report from The Education Forum, Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice, sheds some light on the debate over whether Twitter is a major time waster or a valuable educational tool for developing technological literacy. Twitteracy Findings, No Surprise Literacy as a general concept has changed dramatically in the Information Age. The best way to understand how any hi-tech tool could benefit your students is to begin using it yourself.
7 Ways Twitter Promotes 21st Century Learning by Dr. Justin Marquis, Ph.D. Twitter is one of those pieces of technology that people either love or hate. For the haters, it seems like a superfluous, narcissistic, even petty platform through which people who think they are more important than they really are share their most intimate details with the world. For those who love the medium, it is a way of filtering and digesting a vast world of digital information quickly and efficiently. Some even see it as a possible vehicle for changing the world. A recent report from The Education Forum, Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice, sheds some light on the debate over whether Twitter is a major time waster or a valuable educational tool for developing technological literacy. Twitteracy Findings, No Surprise Literacy as a general concept has changed dramatically in the Information Age. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The best way to understand how any hi-tech tool could benefit your students is to begin using it yourself.
5 Great Cheat Sheets Teachers should Not Miss After the Twitter Cheat Sheet I posted yesterday, I got emails from some of you asking If I have any other sheets to share post here . I do have some saved ones I bookmarked from different websites and in particular from Mashable. I personally love Cheat Sheets because they present information in a visually attractive way which can be very helpful especially for visual learners.And just like Infographics,Cheat Sheets can also give users a simple rundown of various features accompanied by an explanation on how to use them. Without any further ado, below is a set of some of the best Cheat Sheets online. Click on any title to download and access the original copy. If you have other suggestions make sure you share them with us . 1- Google Plus Cheat Sheet 2- Facebook for Newbies Cheat Sheet 3- Twitter Newbies Cheat Sheet 4- Manners Cheat Sheet 5- Social Media Keyboard Shortcuts
How I Use Twitter In My Classroom My students hate writing, especially in math. To create a happy medium I decided to integrate the use of micro-blogging into my classroom to motivate my students to begin to at least use mathematical language in class. I thought this was going to be another project gone bad! In our class we use Today’s Meet and Twitter as digital tools to encourage students to speak and write their mathematical ideas and thoughts. I created a class Twitter account and came up with 25 writing prompts for students to write on. The Steps Step 1: Create a class Twitter account. Step 2: Have students create an individual Twitter account. Step 3: Assign a time to integrate writing into the classroom. Step 4: Create prompts for your class to tweet on…Visit my blog for a list of Twitter Math Prompts. Tips: ~Protect your tweets and make them private. Other ways to use Twitter in Math 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Have fun integrating technology into your class and Happy Tweeting!
Why Students Should Use Twitter I must admit I was skeptical and originally questioned the validity of Twitter. I initially viewed Twitter as just a tedious free service that lets you send a 140-character message, or “tweet to your followers” of lackluster and hum-drum information. I was not really interested in reading about the location of someone checking in on Four Square or what he or she was eating for dinner. See Also: It’s Official: Using Twitter Makes Students More Engaged Yet, I was totally surprised at all the benefits that Twitter provides to high school and college students. Every student should use Twitter. The Importance Of Access There are loads of scholarships, essay contests, STEM competitions and grant opportunities for middle school, high school and college students posted daily on Twitter. But it’s not for only journalism students of course. Connect To A Wider Audience Twitter was launched in July 2006. Students Can Tweet For Good
Does Twitter Improve Education? cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by Ed Yourdon There has been post after post acknowledging how educators love Twitter while also encouraging others to use it themselves. With that though comes skeptics (as there should be), questioning whether the use of Twitter is beneficial to educators. So to prove this, we have to look at a few things. Scenario A – Being on Twitter for the sake of being on Twitter When I first started Twitter, my first follows were my brother, Shaquille O’Neal and every other Laker related Twitter account I could find. Scenario B -Using Twitter to follow and learn from other educators A year later, I went back to using Twitter in a totally different fashion and followed educators, found some great information on things that were happening in classrooms and schools, and it took my learning to a different level. So here is the thing when people that actually use Twitter challenge with the question, “does Twitter improve education?”
Our Biggest Twitter Tips For Teachers For many teachers making a foray into the edtech world, Twitter is an excellent tool for consuming and learning. There are a number of great resources out there to help teachers follow people who will be useful to them based on location, subject, grade level, and technology being used. Many are also harnessing Twitter as a part of their PLN (personal learning network) to connect, share, and network. So how do you bridge the gap from reading tweets in your feed to truly harnessing the power of Twitter in the edtech realm? Check out our biggest Twitter tips for teachers below! Create, Don’t Just Consume The best way to get the most out of Twitter is to use it. Connect and Network When you’re just getting started on Twitter (or perhaps trying to add to or refine your feed), a resource for educational hashtags or guides to great accounts to follow are excellent resources to point you in the right direction. Share Your Resources Keep At It
Again; Relevance, Why Twitter November 29, 2012 by tomwhitby Twitter has been a topic for educational Bloggers for several years now. I believe that those educators using Twitter are drawn to those posts, while other educators, not using Twitter, are driven away. Maybe the problem is the emphasis, or focus of the blog posts. Maybe the focus should be on relevance and no mention of twitter. Are educators relevant in our technology-driven society? I earned an advanced degree in Educational Technology over 30 years ago. In the distant past, teachers were able to maintain their relevance based on printed journals, newspapers, and magazines. Educators need a better way to communicate about change in order to maintain their relevance. Too bad an application of Social Media like Twitter was developed for such a frivolous purpose. If only an educator with the highest of degrees would invent such a collaborative tool for educators to do all of the same collaboration with real valuable education stuff? Like this:
Five-Minute Film Festival: Twitter in Education I think it's fair to say that Twitter can no longer be dismissed as a trivial passing fad. Though I had dabbled with a personal account, my entire opinion changed when I started my @VideoAmy account and dove in to the conversations educators were engaged in. While some people certainly do tweet about what they're having for breakfast, teachers, administrators, and educational organizations use Twitter in a whole different way -- making smart use of those 140 characters to share resources, wisdom, and inspiration. With the wealth of information out there, you have to cut through the noise a little to figure out how it will work best for you.
9 Simple Tips For Connecting With Your Students On Twitter