I've never been a big fan of Twitter, and find the instant gratification of the tweets to be used mostly for information I'd have been happier not knowing. I've read a few blogs, some from classmates, that have begun to change my mind, but then I find things that remind me why I really don't care for it overall.
One blog we were introduced in class listed 60 Inspiring Examples of Twitter in the Classroom, but there were many I felt took the personal interaction, or responsibility out and replaced it with 140 characters.
I don't think it's asking too much for students to arrive on time, or for a teacher to have set office hours that can be flexible as needed. Even for the things I could use Twitter for, I don't see how a forum discussion is any harder. Students and teachers can still leave comments for each other, and other people can read them. I've yet to see a school that doesn't have email for the faculty, so sending an email versus sending tweet means it's one more thing to check every day.
I like the idea of keeping parents updated, or making notifications easy to see since people who don't have a Twitter account can still follow a twitter feed and receive texts on their phone. But I don't see how making a classroom even more instantaneous is helping the students learn respect for someone else's ideas, or fostering patience in waiting their turn. I see the instant gratification making people more antsy to be heard, right now, and it frustrates me.
I definitely don't like the idea of Twitter to build reading and writing skills. I like the idea of technology in building the skills, but Twitter and texting are not the way to go. I think students flipping back to a Twitter account or feed while in class is taking time away from them learning directly from each other, or from the teacher. Even if trying an exercise in learning to be concise, there is a word count feature on almost every word processor application, or even barring that - you hand write a sentence or two and manually count the words.
Don't get me wrong, the applications for Twitter in a school system are growing and very useful in staying in touch with the community when instant conversation is necessary - I just don't think asking the students to interact with it in the classroom is the best option, for me.
*SO* with you about Twitter. Like you, I do come from the background of finding it to be a bit of a vapid waste of webspace, but I feel very much like bringing Twitter into the classroom does our students a distinct disservice. These kids, for the most part, do concise very well; we probably have Twitter and texting, in part, to thank for that. What they don't do well, on the whole, is elaborate. They have trouble with illustrative examples; they can't cite things that prove their point. We don't have to train them to think in 144 character bytes; they largely already do. Building from a starting point is one thing, but using a platform that reinforces bad habits doesn't really help overmuch.
ReplyDeleteEven in the linked article, I didn't see a single thing that couldn't be done on another, less restrictive medium. Even the White House has a G+ account.
Well, I'll be the dissenting voice and say that I really like Twitter, I think it is much more than just a "vapid waste of webspace", and I do think it can be used successfully in schools. I understand what you both are saying and I agree that many students need to be shown how to elaborate in their writing. However, I don't think that is Twitter's role in the classroom. Rather, it can help hook an uninterested student and spark a class discussion. Certainly I think that like any other educational tool, when and how it is put to use will need to be carefully considered.
ReplyDeleteThat I can agree with - using it for research and to spark talk I can see. But even those wouldn't be instructing the students in how to use it, short of maybe a 5 minute, here's how you hashtag search, now use it at home to supplement your findings....
DeleteThe verification system does have got a simple reason. Twitter brims with bogus or parody accounts. So when consumers are sifting by way of a listing of probable usernames, it helps to have alerts that will help find the true particular person they need to follow. twitter verification services
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