Using Twitter for Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom

Figure 1: Our Twitter Usage Survey Results for our CTL2009 Course 25-11-2009

What is this thing called Twitter

Figure 2: Image by Wordle http://www.wordle.net

Twitter is a social networking tool that many are using to build communities, build brands, and for teaching and learning in the classroom. From the results of our survey today it seems that we have a range of usage with Twitter.

If you are new to Twitter, you might want to first take a look at Mashable's Twitter guidebook.

How does it work?

Short 140 character messages

How can one communicate in such short messages? Read Paul Left's article Using Twitter as a Communication Channel in an education context for ideas of how he is using this tool.

Figure 3: Example of Wired communicating with its staff

Following

Twitter is similar to other social networking tools in that it allows you to connect to people - but it also allows people to connect to you - to "follow you". If someone follows you, you do not have to follow them back. This type of functionality allows someone to follow experts in various disciplines and learn about what those experts are doing, researching, and promoting. Following is a behavior that helps learners stay current on new trends in their fields.

Public Dialogue

While one can "protect" one's tweets, having a public dialogue leverages the power of Twitter to make learning open and authentic. You may use the @ symbol before a person’s Twitter name to send a follower a direct public message. This allows for the conversation to take place.

Real Time Media for Classroom

Can I use it during class? Twitter can be used in an actual class setting to add an interactive element. Students may feel more comfortable asking a question via the Web. However, one should consider carefully before projecting student's twitterstreams as people's behavior can be unpredictable. Consider the recent use of tweckling in a conference setting.

Figure 4: MrsAngell discusses students asking questions in class.

Mobile

One of the great things about Twitter is that it can be used on a variety of phones making it great potential tool for mLearning as cell phone usage grows.

There are many more ideas for using Twitter in and outside of the classroom and there are many great apps for using with Twitter. We will discuss these more as we proceed with the course.

For Further Reading

Annotated Bibliography - Twitter, Social Networking and Communities of Practice - TESL-EJ

Tweeting in Class - Inside Higher Ed - for a look at upsides and downsides of using it in a classroom

How Twitter is Changing the Face of Media - Mashable

Streams of Content, Limited Attention - and Twitterwalls - broadstuff

Twitter tags in my Diigo Library