Twitter in the Classroom?

The use of social media in the digital age has raised controversy over social media in the classroom. 

Many teachers are using technological advances and digital communication to their advantage, while some believe that schools are no place for social media sites.

We found a great article on Zite, a free personalized magazine for iPad, iPhone and Android phones, on the topic of Twitter and education.

Using Twitter has obvious convenience advantages for both students and teachers. Twitter provides an additional way of communicating and sending reminders, which in the busy lives of students and teachers is an advantage. Teachers can choose to create content pertaining to a specific subject or course by using hash tags. Twitter can also serve as a tool for announcements and updates or other creative ideas teachers have in bettering the classroom experience.

Apart from reminders and updates, Twitter can be used to share links, videos, blogs or other useful content with students and other teachers.  Zite once again suggests how the use of hash tags makes it easy for teachers around the world to collaborate.

With a little bit of creativity, Twitter can expand beyond purely informational. Challenging students to post stories, poems or collaborate on a story or poem is a good tool for creative writers. In the Zite article, writing in the tone of a historical person to give students a sense of language from that time period, is also a useful way to utilize Twitter. Including Twitter as part of class discussions encourages more students to participate and leaves the discussion open to return to even after the class has ended.

Games, such as scavenger hunts, have been practiced on Twitter before and are applicable to education. Sending students on a scavenger hunt while teaching concepts is an alternative and interesting spin on learning. Google Earth or Google Maps are suggested scavenger hunt tools from Zite. There are no limitations as to how you can use Twitter, it might just take some time creating your own ideas!

Depending on what your purpose is, different Twitter ideas will be useful. Online book clubs or book discussions can be used for literature courses or other classes where there is a significant book or part of a textbook being explored. Testing foreign language abilities by responding to tweets in foreign languages is also a good way to utilize Twitter in and outside the classroom. Twitter also serves as a great brainstorming place where ideas can be shared, inspired and improved!

Thanks to the Zite Article where we adapted this information!


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