Twitter in Education

Twitter can be used in a number of ways in education. When I first started thinking about Twitter and its use in education, collaboration among teachers is what came to my mind. Twitter would be a great resource for teachers to use to communicate about curriculum. In Anne Arundel County we have pacing guides that tell us what to teach on certain days. Teachers could “tweet” each other about what day they are on in the pacing guide. Additionally, teachers could share ideas and websites that match the pacing guide and curriculum. Of course, using Twitter would be for short, quick comments due to the fact that “tweets” can be no more than 140 characters. For longer messages, teachers could post to blogs or email.

Twitter could also be used with students. It is an ideal resource for telecollaborative projects. In Social Studies we study urban, suburban, and rural areas in Anne Arundel County. Currently, we write letters to other schools informing them about our region and, in return, they write letters back to us about their region. The students enjoy hearing from other students about their school and region. The only complaint the students have is the length of time it takes to receive letters. I can only imagine the students excitement if they could sit down at a computer and send and receive real-times messages about different regions. This would give students the ability to ask questions and get immediate feedback. Using Twitter with this project would allow for a more exciting and meaningful lesson for the students.

Check out the Twitter blog for more ideas on using Twitter.

Twitter

Twitter is a FREE social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send and read others’ updates. These updates are known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Twitter was started as a side project in 2006 and through the years has turned into a real-time short messaging service. Twitter can be used to access breaking world news or get updates from friends.

To get started with Twitter set up a profile. Click here to start your Twitter profile. Using this profile, you can find your friends and your friends can find you. Once you have set up a profile, you can customize the way your Twitter looks. You can add a photo, choose a color scheme, and add a background image. To protect yourself, you can also keep your updates private. You have the option to approve who can follow you and keep your updates out of search results.

Additionally, Twitter allows you to send updates while you’re away from your computer. You can do this via your mobile phone. It’s done through text messaging, also known as SMS, which has become very popular. If you use your phone in the U.S, Canada or India you can also receive updates via text messaging. If you are in an important meeting you text “OFF” to stop receiving your Twitter updates and “ON” when you are ready to start receiving them again.

To learn more about Twitter, check out this TeacherTube video.

Stay tuned for educational uses with Twitter!