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Saved by 188 people (-169 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-01-29


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developed a sense of each other as people beyond the classroom space

Highlighted by drizzi

developed a sense of each other as people beyond the classroom space

Highlighted by drizzi

Twitter for Academia

Highlighted by bnuleo

Then I read an article by Clive Thompson at Wired. Clive’s article convinced me that perhaps it was worth giving Twitter a try.

Highlighted by kathycannon

Ways to use Twitter in Academia:

Some of these ideas are general, and some are specifically from a Twittering assignment I did for a class last semester. When I first added it to the syllabus I had no idea what to expect. It was just sort of an experiment that I had planned for the end of the semester (all of the students signed up for twitter and followed each other). After using it I have to say it was one of the better things I did with that class, for reasons I will explain below.

  • Class Chatter: The first thing I noticed when the class started using Twitter was how conversations continued inside and outside of class. Most of these conversations were not directly related to class material, but many were tangentially related. Because the students had the shared classroom experience when something came up outside of class that reminded them of material from class time it often got twittered. This served as a reinforcement/connection between the material and the “real world.”

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Some of these ideas are general, and some are specifically from a Twittering assignment I did for a class last semester

Highlighted by kathycannon

one of the better things I did with that class

Highlighted by kathycannon

The first thing I noticed when the class started using Twitter was how conversations continued inside and outside of class.

Highlighted by en6494

on 2009-06-30 by en6494

It's fun and interactive!

on 2009-06-30 by en6494

Twitter is definitely worth exploring.

on 2009-06-30 by en6494

Though it's fun and interactive, I don't like the idea having students spend so much time on talking.

Class Chatter: The first thing I noticed when the class started using Twitter was how conversations continued inside and outside of class. Most of these conversations were not directly related to class material, but many were tangentially related.

Highlighted by erinthompson

This served as a reinforcement/connection between the material and the “real world.”

Highlighted by en6494

students had the shared classroom experience when something came up outside of class that reminded them of material from class

Highlighted by elearner

Classroom Community:

Highlighted by iikeda

Once students started twittering I think they developed a sense of each other as people beyond the classroom space, rather than just students they saw twice a week for an hour and a half

Highlighted by en6494

Classroom Community: Once students started twittering I think they developed a sense of each other as people beyond the classroom space, rather than just students they saw twice a week for an hour and a half. This carried with it a range of benefits, from more productive classroom conversations (people were more willing to talk, and more respectful of others), and also helped me to understand what type of students they were. I learned a great deal about students lives, where they work, that one of them had Thanksgiving dinner with 50+ people. Now this type of supplementary material might not be attractive to all educators, I can definitely say that changed the classroom dynamics for the better. I think this is connected to what Clive Thompson calls the sixth sense of Twitter. Having the Sixth Sense can really help the classroom.

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Classroom Community: Once students started twittering I think they developed a sense of each other as people beyond the classroom space

Highlighted by elearner

can definitely say that changed the classroom dynamics for the better

Highlighted by iikeda

(people were more willing to talk, and more respectful of others)

Highlighted by pr9168

Now this type of supplementary material might not be attractive to all educators, I can definitely say that changed the classroom dynamics for the better.

Highlighted by msaxthelm

Get a Sense of the World: You can have students look at the Public Timeline of Twitter. This is the place where all public messages get posted. The “noise” ratio here is pretty high, but one gets a sense of how varied are the things people are doing around the globe. Just a quick look at the timeline shows a range of languages, although English is still the predominate one. Additionally the public timeline serves as a sort of quick measure of what people are paying attention to. During large sporting events (World Series, or NFL Playoffs, Twitter) has a large number of messages from people watching these events. New Years was particularly interesting as people around the world wished “Happy New Year” via Twitter, far before the New Year actually got to me in Dallas, TX.

Highlighted by acidcookie

Get a Sense of the World: You can have students look at the Public Timeline of Twitter. This is the place where all public messages get posted. The “noise” ratio here is pretty high, but one gets a sense of how varied are the things people are doing around the globe. Just a quick look at the timeline shows a range of languages, although English is still the predominate one. Additionally the public timeline serves as a sort of quick measure of what people are paying attention to.

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

New Years was particularly interesting as people around the world wished “Happy New Year” via Twitter, far before the New Year actually got to me in Dallas, TX.

Highlighted by en6494

on 2009-06-30 by en6494

It's good to say happy festival to others via Twitter. People can get immediate feedback! It's interesting!

on 2009-06-30 by en6494

honstly, they are writing 'happy festiva" rather than saying it.

Track a Word

Highlighted by iikeda

They can track the word, and see the varied phrases in which people use it.

Highlighted by iikeda

Track a Word: Through Twitter you can “track” a word. This will subscribe you to any post which contains said word. So, for example a student could be interested in how a particular word is used. They can track the word, and see the varied phrases in which people use it. Or, you can track an event, a proper name (I track Derrida for example), a movie title, a store name see how many people a day tweet that they are at or on their way to a Starbucks. (To do this send the message “track Starbucks” to Twitter, rather than posting the update “track Starbucks” you will now receive all messages with the word “Starbucks.”)

Highlighted by acidcookie

Track a Word: Through Twitter you can “track” a word. This will subscribe you to any post which contains said word. So, for example a student could be interested in how a particular word is used. They can track the word, and see the varied phrases in which people use it. Or, you can track an event, a proper name (I track Derrida for example), a movie title, a store name see how many people a day tweet that they are at or on their way to a Starbucks.

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Track a Word: Through Twitter you can “track” a word. This will subscribe you to any post which contains said word. So, for example a student could be interested in how a particular word is used. They can track the word, and see the varied phrases in which people use it. Or, you can track an event, a proper name (I track Derrida for example), a movie title, a store name see how many people a day tweet that they are at or on their way to a Starbucks. (To do this send the message “track Starbucks” to Twitter, rather than posting the update “track Starbucks” you will now receive all messages with the word “Starbucks.”)

Highlighted by caitlin032118

Through Twitter you can “track” a word. This will subscribe you to any post which contains said word. So, for example a student could be interested in how a particular word is used. They can track the word, and see the varied phrases in which people use it.

Highlighted by pr9168

you can “track” a word. This will subscribe you to any post which contains said word. So, for example a student could be interested in how a particular word is used. They can track the word, and see the varied phrases in which people use it. Or, you can track an event, a proper name (I track Derrida for example), a movie title, a store name see how many people a day tweet that they are at or on their way to a Starbucks. (To do this send the message “track Starbucks” to Twitter, rather than posting the update “track Starbucks” you will now receive all messages with the word “Starbucks.”)

Highlighted by elearner

track an event, a proper name (I track Derrida for example), a movie title, a store name

Highlighted by pr9168

Track a Conference:

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Track a Conference: Before going to MLA (the big language and literature conference held between Christmas and New Years) I started “tracking” MLA. This means anytime that someone tweeted using the word MLA I got a notice. This way I discovered several other people who were at the MLA using Twitter. (Now I also got a bunch of college students complaining about MLA citation format as well.)

Highlighted by acidcookie

I was prepping for a lecture and wanted to know if students shared a particular movie reference, I asked via Twitter and got instant responses.

Highlighted by en6494

Instant Feedback: Because Twitter is always on, and gets pushed to your cell phone if you set it up this way, it is a good way to get instant feedback. I was prepping for a lecture and wanted to know if students shared a particular movie reference, I asked via Twitter and got instant responses. Students can also use this when doing their classwork, trying to understand the material. Tweet: “I don’t understand what this reading has to do with New Media? any ideas?”

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Because Twitter is always on, and gets pushed to your cell phone if you set it up this way, it is a good way to get instant feedback. I was prepping for a lecture and wanted to know if students shared a particular movie reference, I asked via Twitter and got instant responses. Students can also use this when doing their classwork, trying to understand the material.

Highlighted by erinthompson

nstant Feedback: Because Twitter is always on, and gets pushed to your cell phone if you set it up this way, it is a good way to get instant feedback. I was prepping for a lecture and wanted to know if students shared a particular movie reference, I asked via Twitter and got instant responses. Students can also use this when doing their classwork, trying to understand the material. Tweet: “I don’t understand what this reading has to do with New Media? any ideas?” Other students then respond. (This actually happened recently in a class of mine.)

Highlighted by elearner

Follow a Professional

Highlighted by iikeda

Students can also use this when doing their classwork, trying to understand the material. Tweet: “I don’t understand what this reading has to do with New Media? any ideas?” Other students then respond.

Highlighted by pr9168

Highlighted by msaxthelm

on 2009-07-06 by msaxthelm

ELL's need lots of peer interaction and this is a way to do that in writing. But what standard of writing? Will this help ELL's learn standard English, or just tweet-English?

Follow a Professional: Students can follow someone else who is on Twitter, who interests them. For example if they are thinking about journalism they should follow NewMediaJim who works for NBC and Tweets about being on Airforce One, covering the Middle East etc. This is a rare inside, “real-time” view into journalism. He is followed by over 2,500 people at this point. Howard Rheingold also uses Twitter in his social journalism class.

Highlighted by caitlin032118

Students can follow someone else who is on Twitter, who interests them

Highlighted by pr9168

Follow a Professional:

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Follow a Professional

Highlighted by elearner

Grammar:

Highlighted by iikeda

Surprisingly Twitter is actually good for teaching grammar

Highlighted by en6494

Highlighted by msaxthelm

on 2009-07-06 by msaxthelm

Ways to introduce students to multiple vocations, which is important developmentally, according to Erikson.

Follow a Famous Person

Highlighted by pr9168

Surprisingly Twitter is actually good for teaching grammar. Why? Because of its short form those who tweet often abbreviate and abuse grammar rules, developing their own unique “twitter rules.” This helps to demonstrate, both how all communication needs rules/structure and how important something like a comma or a period can be. (Some Tweets become really ambiguous because of their lack of punctuation.)

Highlighted by pr9168

Grammar: Surprisingly Twitter is actually good for teaching grammar. Why? Because of its short form those who tweet often abbreviate and abuse grammar rules, developing their own unique “twitter rules.” This helps to demonstrate, both how all communication needs rules/structure and how important something like a comma or a period can be. (Some Tweets become really ambiguous because of their lack of punctuation.)

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Because Twitter is based on SMS technology it limits communication to 140 characters, it is surprising what develops out of this limit, and how quickly one starts to think in messages of 140 characters.

Highlighted by en6494

This helps to demonstrate, both how all communication needs rules/structure and how important something like a comma or a period can be.

Highlighted by msaxthelm

Related to the above is the idea that when you change the rules (context) around any written communication you necessarily change the content of such an utterance. Rules rather than hindering communication can actually be really productive (for the long version of this argument read about Oulipo). Because Twitter is based on SMS technology it limits communication to 140 characters, it is surprising what develops out of this limit, and how quickly one starts to think in messages of 140 characters.

Highlighted by pr9168

ule Based Writing: Related to the above is the idea that when you change the rules (context) around any written communication you necessarily change the content of such an utterance. Rules rather than hindering communication can actually be really productive (for the long version of this argument read about Oulipo). Because Twitter is based on SMS technology it limits communication to 140 characters, it is surprising what develops out of this limit, and how quickly one starts to think in messages of 140 characters

Highlighted by pamelaarraras

Perfect, an in-context lesson on gender prejudice.

Highlighted by en6494

on 2009-06-30 by en6494

similary, we can have in-context lessons on other issues as well.

  • Maximizing the Teachable Moment: It is often hard to teach in context, Twitter allows you to do this, but better yet, allows your students to do it for you (a way that others will hear perhaps). Recently someone in my Twitter circle made a marginal comment about a male friend who was dating an older woman. Another person in the same circle called him out this. Perfect, an in-context lesson on gender prejudice.
  • Public NotePad: Twitter is really good for sharing short inspirations, thoughts that just popped into your head. Not only are they recorded, because you can go back and look at them, but you can also get inspiration from others. This is really useful for any “creative” based class.
  • Writing Assignments: Remember that game you used to play where one person would start a story, the next person would continue it, etc. . .Okay try this on Twitter.

    • Highlighted by pamelaarraras

    Writing Assignments

    Highlighted by iikeda

    Public NotePad: Twitter is really good for sharing short inspirations, thoughts that just popped into your head. Not only are they recorded, because you can go back and look at them, but you can also get inspiration from others. This is really useful for any “creative” based class.

    Highlighted by caitlin032118

    Twitter is really good for sharing short inspirations, thoughts that just popped into your head. Not only are they recorded, because you can go back and look at them, but you can also get inspiration from others. This is really useful for any “creative” based class.

    Highlighted by pr9168

    sharing short inspirations, thoughts that just popped into your head. Not only are they recorded, because you can go back and look at them, but you can also get inspiration from others.

    Highlighted by elearner

    Writing Assignments: Remember that game you used to play where one person would start a story, the next person would continue it, etc. . .Okay try this on Twitter.

    Highlighted by caitlin032118

    Writing Assignments: Remember that game you used to play where one person would start a story, the next person would continue it, etc. . .Okay try this on Twitter.

    Highlighted by pr9168

    http://grouptweet.com/

    Highlighted by msaxthelm