I was casually browsing the internet today, looking for some inspiration on what to write this week's blog on. I came across an article on US News website about twitter in the class. Twitter in the classroom interests me for two reasons. For one, last weeks post discussed incorporation of social media and applications that students are already using to enhance their educational expierence. Twitter is one of the most widely used social media applications among students. What better way to enhance the educational process than to build off a social platform that students already enjoy using? The second reason that I found this article interesting is because I have been in a classroom setting that Twitter was used for educational benefit.
In my twitter classroom expierence, it was required for students to " tweet" atleast once during class time. Tweets varied from reminders of when assignments were do to inspirational quotes about education. ( the course is based out of the college of education, but is offered to all majors). Prior to this course, I had never used twitter because it was something that just did not interest me, but once we started using it in the classroom I checked it almost daily. Twitter became a way for me to check out if we had any upcoming assignments due, or to review what we did in class that day. Our course also had a service learning component, we would go to a local elementary school and present " maker kits", which would usually result in several cute pictures of us working with young students on twitter.
Though, I used twitter in a course, I enjoyed how this article brought different ways for other courses to incorporate twitter into classroom activites. For example, the " writing a summary" of a topic in less than a hundred and fifty characters is a very useful " exit ticket" activity, or way of getting students to really reflect on what they have just learned. Another important point of this article is the idea of making a " personal brand". I am a college student that is about to embark into the world of graduate school, and with graduate school comes applications. What sets people apart on these applications? Outside personal interests that are academically fueled. The creation of a professional twitter account is a great way to start. Following accounts about issues, interest groups, leaders that are involved in the profession that you are getting into is a great way to out yourself out there.
If you are interested in twitter in the classroom be sure to check out the article!
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/05/24/5-unique-uses-of-twitter-in-the-classroom?page=2
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