A discussion of Twitter in the classroom (pt 2)

For the first module of this class I have studied Twitter, a program
that needs relatively little introduction. It can be found at
twitter.com, which is the clearinghouse for all of your Tweeting
needs. It comes under the heading of a "communication tool," although
it could also accurately be sorted as a networking tool or perhaps
even a reflection or feedback tool.

Twitter is somewhat notorious on its own and has been used by a wide
variety of people for a wide variety of ends, most of them involving
very short updates to one's situation. The defining feature of Twitter
is what you can put into the entry field: you are limited to 140
characters of ASCII text, no more. (Less is fine.) This is then fed to
a list under your registered handle, together with a timestamp and
other optional details.

There have, as a result of this enforced austerity, been a lot of
innovations in how to use those 140 characters. One key one is the way
to address others; an example might be like this:

@bernardrobin My cat is screaming! How can I shut him up?

An option on the twitter page allows you to look for comments
addressed to that Twitter, allowing Dr. Robin to see my cry for help
and, perhaps, reply:

@tompile Try giving him twenty bucks, works for me...

It can also be used to make simple statements. Since it is possible to
both pull up a Twitter using only the username, and it is possible to
also subscribe to a Twitter "friends list," one can easily monitor,
for instance, a course's twitter page -- which is the main utility
we'll be considering throughout here.

Other utilities allow you to make shortened references to links,
allowing links to complex addresses that would be well in excess of
the 140 character limit to be reduced to (for instance)
http://bit.ly/983yrl2, which can even leave you room for a description
OF the link and its contents.

Twitter does not require a great many specific skills to use. One particular talent that may be useful is a knack for expression yourself concisely; while Twitter does, so to speak, allow for the occasional 'u' or 'lol' to shorten frequent expressions, it is still best to avoid such things if you possibly can. Nor does it require many resources, although reading a guide to the purpose and nature of Twitter and its functions would probably be useful before you got started.

The obvious way to use Twitter is to have either a personal "teacher" account, or perhaps an account for each class, which you use to send out updates and reminders. You inform your students of this in the syllabus and then regularly post notes such as "Class in library on Wednesday," "Essay now due 9/15 instead of 9/12," and the like.

However, Twitter can also be used to engage students in class discussion; it may happen spontaneously, or one can pose a question. A great variety of teachers have made use of Twitter, and I encourage to share your own stories or theories. Here are some links to help you get some initial ideas; many people have done quite impressive things, such as write collaborative stories using Twitter! The field of this and other similar applications is still young, and so you should not be afraid to give new ideas a try.

http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/
http://searchenginewatch.com/3630980
http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2007/08/twitter-tweets-for-higher-education.html

An article on a somewhat more rigorous plane from a Hungarian conference: http://www.morsmal.org/documents/members/admin/Can-we-use-Twitter-for-educational-activities.pdf

This document also lists some of the possible pitfalls of using Twitter in the classroom, such as "tweeting" being a distraction in class or disruptive to establishing an air of politeness and listening to what the lecturer (or other students) are saying. It can also discourage good grammar skills, due to the 140 character limit, and also may place teachers in a position of being "on call" 24-7, which will lead to more professional stress.

There is also one particular concern which should be mentioned. Twitter, at present, does not have any built in content filters; there is no fundamental factor preventing a student from subscribing to a twitter feed that is full of swearing and vulgarity, or - directly - from swearing themselves. As such Twitter may be best reserved for upper level classes, such as high school and (of course) college.