The Twitter Experiment - Twitter in the Classroom

[poseidonrocks1]

@louisekuan

[poseidonrocks1]

Follow?? @Louise Jan

[llsardarll]

inte så fint

[ivanfink1]

Follow me? @StefanTheFink

[twittelearning]

excelente ¿Twitter en la educación? Twitte-learning !!!!!!

[twittelearning]

excelente articulo,¿Twitter en la educación?

[NasVsAries]

follow me please @NasVsAries

[fredy26lima2007]

it's time to do this around the world. Great point. ;)

[TeamHypro]

If you wanna Increase Twitter Followers FAST

Visit here ★ twitcentre [dot] com ★

[gsmgtreal414]

@GodFatherOfRap_

[TheN4DIA]

Follow4follow: TheN4DIA

[blondylola]

Using technology in the classroom is the best way to reach students who have technology so woven into their lives. Twitter is an easy way to integrate technology in the classroom and go beyond classroom material.

[MrSouthphillyitalian]

Twitter corny

[rjolly10]

Follow me on twitter @SmartKangaroo on my quest to conquer the Twittersphere!

[CABx3]

I do like Twitter, I use it mostly to follow musicians that I like. But in the class room?....I'm not so sure. People need to have social skills to get by, which is one of the reasons I don't really care for social networks when it come to peers, colleagues, etc.

[SaigheadBhriste]

This is poor teaching. Are students really so afraid of speaking up that they have to use Twitter? What happens to them if they ever have to make a business presentation when they get a job? Twitter is a shallow and superficial medium which doesn't facilitate analysis and which trivialises expression. They should be talking with each other and the lecturer and bonding with their class, not sitting in their insularised shells, tweeting away on their laptops and phones. I despair for education...

[VirtualAssistantv]

what's the good thing about twitter is that you could post what you feel, news, any events happening, etc. with a 14o characters, people could limit their post and turn them into a more specific one. so much cool in twitter and i'm sure. everyone is enjoying sharing their lives through their tweets.

[traviswolfemusic]

@TravisWolfe101

[christophersmith2304]

I just found a great site for managing twitter followers. Visit G o t F o l l o w e r s O n T w i t t e r . c o m

[SpaceHeaterStudios]

Interesting experiment. This shows how new technologies have potential to revolutionize even the most mundane aspects of life. With that said, I don't know how I would feel about tweeting in class. I feel like it would be abused and that people would make uneducated, ridiculous comments.

[crazybanditt]

Haha i LOVE this i want to know the whole world and eliminate every last speck of ignorance in my soul. *sheds tear*

...follow me, @DigitalDon_

[handsume001]

follow me on twitter MikeHoopDorsey

[velvel03]

Add my fan page sarina martin

follow me @sarina_beauty 

[JamieLovesGirls19]

Follow me on Twitter @JamieLovesGirls

[ryangaffaney]

Bobby Sibert has the Southern Cross constelation in freckles on his neck! How cool!

[W0LFVISI0N]

@wolfvision i follow back

[TomasCMcLean]

Follow @tomasmclean #teamfollowback

[SUNYUlsterVLE]

Take a look at ConnectYard for integrating multiple media sources into one conversation stream.... You can use text messages, tweets, email, facebook, etc... and have them all come to one place. Very useful, I've found, for this type of in class discussion stuff.

[Everflamen]

No Macs in that class?! WHATS UP WITH THAT.

[philforcedotcom]

Possibly negative thoughts:

1. Twittering is great for espousing guttural, off-the cuff thoughts helping "keep the lights turned on" in the digitally-addicted, "entertain me or I'll tune you out" generations. I didn't see much deep thinking in any of those displayed posts. Yet, the empty sound bite culture Gen X'ers were taught as "a plague to western culture" is now encouraged in 140 or less characters for the Millennial and Gen Y'ers. Gads!

[stevemac121]

Hi @philforcedotcom - Fair point, but this can be just one element in the whole learning strategy. If you can get them to a lecture, get them engaged that is good. Spin off activities can be planned for after class and of course blogging and essays can be used to get deeper responses. For brainstorming alone its a great in class tool. Just seen your positives below :-)

[philforcedotcom]

Positive thoughts:

1. Sounds like fun. The stimulation keeps students involved and maybe even retained for the institution.

2. The quick gathering of student feedback allows the prof to gauge if they are "getting it" when presented with material.

3. Profs demonstrate they are "hip" by usurping youngster social technology for learning purposes keeping bridges between generations open, even in overly crowded classrooms.

[AdamTyma]

Started using this in my large lecture class last spring.  Really works well.

[Mephistopelus]

I think, that Google Wave might be more useful for class collaborating.

[LOTRzagorath]

@Mephistopelus Absolutely; Wave is brilliant for collaboration—this is the perfect use case. In the meantime, I think Buzz would be more useful than Twitter though, because of the inline comments.

[Mephistopelus]

@LOTRzagorath Totally agree:)

This video, is not more than PR of Twitter, thought.

[zestyguy]

@LOTRzagorath That's assuming people have actually learned to use Google Wave by now. It's a UI nightmare, and is completely unintuitive. The potential is huge, yes, but it's the technologies which are easy to use that catch on. It's a large reason why a product like the iPhone, which is not fully featured compared to some of its peers, is so successful. It's an effortless user experience. There are people who still don't know what Google Wave even does.

[kesmit3]

Agreed, as it develops - Twitter was good because users could use their cellphones to post comments...

[miguelango]

the beginning of a trend!

[PHATVW]

This is great! Twitter used as a collaborative tool.

[ultratux2000]

i mean i love twitter (btw @maxtillich haha) but hey, there is a life after the university and the sudents will have to speak in front of a group of people and they will need more than 140 chars. i got the idea but you dont help "the shy" people you rather isolate them by giving them a platform.

[bleckb]

jaytodd: Education isn't a product/service like milk or car repair. What you are paying for is the opportunity to apprentice with someone who knows a lot more than you. What you get out of it depends upon what you put into it.

[richardvg03]

Education SHOULD be customer service... we PAY for a service... correct???

[jaytoddmartin]

why do people say "actually" so much? What's a better word to say instead?

[turcorox911]

in reality

and depending on how it's used, you could possibly use: truly, indeed, in certainty, and stuff of the like

thesaurus is always there too

[peapodfontaine]

I'm sorry but if, after each class, I was the TA that had to post all the hand-written comments I would kill myself.

Is there not a student computer lab at this school? Let the students post their own damned comments. Why on earth would this be the TA's responsibility? Education is not customer service.

[theMezz]

AGREED !!!!!!!!!!!

[lllSCOOPlll]

twitter for learning that i can get

but twitter for fun ?

a big waste of time

plus its so LAME

[5 stars]

[Osmun79]

I saw this sort of thing growing with class-related Wiki's and really enjoyed the thought of using editable Wiki's. I am on the fence with Twitter. Obviously, Dr. Rankin's point about it causing students to have to hone arguments is great, but she also mentions it limits longer discourse on material. I have not joined Twitter, and am not sure that with all the spam that it's what I need right now.

[MrJKoi]

it makes a lot of sense to use twitter in the classroom. helps students keep in touch with teachers, if you need some info on an assignment or anything your teacher can twitter all the info on it. great way to connect with teachers and professors

[itwsw]

That teacher is damn hot lawl.

[maxiihrdy]

Follow @ItoshiiHito on twitter :D

[jfrhode]

It would have been interesting to hear further reflections from Dr. Rankin on what perhaps didn't go as well as she had hoped, if she'll continue incorporating Twitter in the future, recommendations for other faculty, etc. Thanks for sharing!

[karfran]

Interesting! I'd like to try that some day!

[hckygrl4]

WTF happened to personal communication? This is NOT going to be a good thing for the future and employment!

I'm not saying this isn't cool....but....speaking out loud is necessary!!!!

Does sounds a bit fun.

[Summerstage1]

look this is a kind of awakening, not a replacment of talking, it is a way to get them INTO the topics....cheers T

[whosChrisHughes]

its great to see this actually being used in classes. I'm a college student and would love it if we had more opportunities to connect with our professors this way!

[ywsanchez]

We've used this form of discussion in online programs for years, so it's great to see it used in a traditional program.

[roflmao2007]

the teacher's hot. nice

[TD4f22]

@roflmao2007 you have a bad taste my mate!

[zakadsmom]

OUTSTANDING! I love the interactive ability of both the educator and the students. This is the basic format for online students so why wouldn't it be a positive application to the ground campus class?

[mexicanidle]

3:01 "...but they're a little bit shy and standoffish"

(pan to the Asian kid with nose buried in laptop...ha! classic!)

[cireremarc]

She doesn't speak specifically about TweetDeck though

[babycheif]

You can clearly see that she is using TweetDeck at the beginning of the video. That was the tweetdeck userface

[jmefowler]

Great job, Kim. Proud of you.

WHOOSH!

[mattchuuu1]

I took a government class at UNT that did this on webct, requiring entire class discussion on various topics without the limitations of twitter. 140 characters is just too small for thorough discussion. Besides, guys already have to deal with enough texting from their girffriends as it is. I wouldn't want a class out of it.

[tloughran]

...spoken like someone who has never tried it :)

[p3on]

this idea is just plain terrible

[tloughran]

...on the other hand, she gives reasons for her views. What are yours?

[turcorox911]

UTD ATEC FTW!

COMET WHOOSH!

[pllatreille]

Interesting, although I'd like to have seen a bit more about how specifically the discussions were set up and run - e.g. what sorts of questions were asked to prompt discussion? Just as an aside, 90 students isn't a large group - for me that's just about the smallest group I teach! Try 200-450+ and no TA! It's clearly scalable to some extent, but with those sorts of numbers the volume might become overwhelming...

[redstar40]

This is great. Thank you so much for sharing this. It gives me great ideas for my high school world history class.

[sdcharley]

Excellent video story.

Would like to hear about more school/educational programs like this.

[smithal1976]

Spiffy =) Nice job, Sis.

Go Comets!

[7wen7y20]

Combine Twitter and Ustream and you get a virtual classroom. Out of work teachers could give extra lessons to make some dough in these hard times.

[TwitterTipsCenter]

It's such a wonderful idea! I wish we have that at class.

[alechosterman]

I've been using Twitter in my upper level communication classes for a year now and it seems to generate good outside discussions. In my Political Comm. class we would twitter during the debates, thereby allowing an extended discussion which we would inevitably utilize in class.

[drstarvo]

was glossed over, but interesting that some (presumably non-tech possessing) students were able to handwrite notes for posting by the TA.

[sdcharley]

I found that part interesting too.

What students wouldn't text from their phone to Twitter? I use my phone 75% more than I use the Twitter web page.

[wood0433]

I am thinking it would be interesting to shoot a compare and contrast video where you try to replicate what is happening on twitter with only pen, paper and whiteboard.

[sdcharley]

That would be an interesting contrast video. However it would be like comparing apples to oranges.

1-People write slower then they type.

2-Walking up and writing on the board takes more time than it would to sit at a laptop or phone and type/text out the message.

The 'Pen&Paper' group would need to be given more time than the 'Twitter' group to present the same information

Unless the 'white board' was an electronic message board and everyone had a way to type/text to it. -

Which is Twitter.

[kesmit3]

Wood0433: That's a great idea. To do so in the same context would really bring out the differences.

Thanks!

[MathieuTwoO]

Not enough people see Twitter as a archive of what has been said. One of the testimonials expresses this well: Twitter is a study aid, it helps focus on what was considered important during the class. Giving as little of a structure as a hashtag takes most the messiness out!

Thanks for posting!