A Beginners Guide to Twitter Tool for Todays

A Beginner's Guide to Twitter Tool for Today’s Interactive Classroom By Jimmy D. Clark, M. Ed. , MBA Instructional Design specialist Austin Community College

Learning Objectives/ Outcomes In this workshop you will: • Learn what Twitter is • Learn why Twitter is an important teaching and learning tool for the Web 2. 0 era • View some examples of how Twitter is being used in education today • Set up a free Twitter account as you follow the tutorial • Learn some best practices for using Twitter and other social networking tools in the classroom

Introduction • What is Twitter? – A free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. (Wikipedia) • Messages are limited to 140 characters or less

A Few Twitter Statistics • December 2009 – 1 Billion + Tweets • January 2010 – 1. 2 Billion + Tweets • Grew 1, 382% between February 2008 and February 2009 • January 2010 – Tweets passed 10 Billion mark • Since July 2006 Twitter has averaged approximately 232. 5 Billion tweets per month

Why Twitter? – Networked Society • Social software tools are useful learning tools in today’s networked society. • The chart on the right shows the links between individuals, communities, and networks that enable Pedagogy 2. 0 (Mc. Loughlin and Lee, 2007)

Why Twitter? – Participation and Knowledge Building • Web 2. 0 – Everyone is a content creator • Participation metaphor – How learners use social software tools to engage in processes of social interaction, dialogue, and sharing • Knowledge-building paradigm – Features sharing and content creation

Why Twitter? – Collaboration Tool • Students can engage more deeply with other students and instructors, subject-matter experts, and larger community • Allows personalization • Connects learners to emerging global network or “architecture of participation” that reaches beyond walls of learning institution

Why Twitter? – Connectivity and Social Rapport • Sites such as Twitter help students acquire skills of: informal learning, creativity, digital literacy • Socializing – Students can share course information as well as personal information • Sharing – Students can store, organize, and annotate resources • Students can schedule their activities, meet online, and engage in collaborative learning activities

Examples of Twitter Use in Classroom Click the links on the pages that follow to see examples of how Twitter is being used in education. • • • Communications tool Content management / organizational tool Data collection Different disciplines Information sharing Newsgathering Student response system To teach communication and networking skills To track a word or a phrase

Twitter Used as a Communications Tool • • Albemarle, Co. , Virginia. Uses Twitter as a tool to keep students and parents in the loop. Administrators send notices about school-related weather closings, meeting notices and School Board decisions, among other announcements. http: //bit. ly/cr 0 Aga MLA. Uses Twitter to create personal information networks. http: //bit. ly/cwi. EUS Dr. Natasha Neogi, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Has students tweet questions to her and announces the most common sticking point at end of class. http: //bit. ly/aavx 9 e Punya Mishra, MSU. Teaches an online course to students in Plymouth, England. He uses a shared Twitter hashtag to enable students there to communicate with his class in Lansing, Michigan. http: //bit. ly/aavx 9 e

Twitter as a Content Management Tool • Monica Rankin, Professor History University of Texas at Dallas. Uses a hashtag to organize comments, questions, and feedback posted by students to Twitter during class. Projects tweets to class. http: //bit. ly/c. CAQh. C • Cole Camplese, Penn State University. Uses a projector to project a Twitter stream of notes from students. http: //bit. ly/b. I 88 n. L • Cammy Bean, VP of Learning Design, Kineo. Uses Twitter and Tweetdeck to organize and group people she follows. http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html. • Mary Howard, Sixth grade teacher in Grand Island, New York. Uses Twitter as her personal learning network. She shares information on resources and tools she has found. She also selects networks of people to follow that provide her with their tips, guidelines, and tools that they have found. http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html

Twitter as a Data Collection Tool • Twittering the Student Experience. Alan Cann. http: //bit. ly/43 u. L 2 • Gordon, Snyder, Springfield Technical College, Massachusetts. Uses a hashtag to enable students to keep tabs on other students’ notes. http: //bit. ly/aavx 9 e

Twitter use in Various Disciplines • • English ▫ Online English Classes - http: //twitter. com/learnenglish_ ▫ Teaching English on Twitter - http: //twitter. com/teachingenglish ▫ English and Communication Arts - http: //twitter 4 teachers. pbworks. com/English-and-Communication-Arts-Teachers Government ▫ Andy Garcia - http: //twitter. com/andygarcia 1987/e-government-class

Twitter as an Information Sharing Tool • Twitter Lessons in 140 Characters or Less. Kathleen Kennedy Manzo. http: //tinyurl. com/yjct 9 ml • Vestavia Hills High School, Birmingham, Alabama. Twitter lesson plans. http: //teacheng. us/? p=27 • Cardiff University, Wales. Puts Twitter information about scientific papers in one place, called Tweprints. http: //www. orbitingfrog. com/arxiv/ • University Laboratory High School, Illinois. Uses Twitter to post updates from pieces of literature students are studying. (No link) • Jeroen Bottema, Teacher trainer for the School of Education Amsterdam. Uses Twitter to share his thoughts, ideas, information, and to learn from or get inspired by other people. He says, “I love the way professionals use Twitter as a backchannel during conferences, using tags, adding depth to presentations and discussions. Microblogging is the informal learning tool for me. ” http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html • Joan Vinail-Cox, Social media and communications consultant, Canada. She gets to know the people whose blogs she follows by following them on Twitter. She uses it to find URLs and get help when she is struggling with learning how to create something online or to fix an application that is not performing correctly. http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html • Janet Clarey, Senior Researcher at Brandon Hall Research says, "Once my productivity nemesis, has become a valuable learning tool. Over time, I have built up a small network of strong links and a slightly larger network of weak links. I think the primary value comes in two forms: (1) a wider network and, (2) immediacy. " http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html

Twitter as a Learning Tool • Andrew Hampton, Headteacher, Thorpe School, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK, says, "I have a great set of people to follow and learn lots everyday about learning tools and other tech stuff. Twitter is a major driver in taking my learning into new and unexpected areas; I'm learning about stuff I didn't know. " http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html • Barry Dahl, CIO at Lake Superior College in Duluth, MN, says "I learn something new several times a day and stay connected with people that form my most valuable network. This is the one tool I would choose if I could only keep one (as long as everyone else kept it also!)". http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html • Gillian Martin Mehers. “"Overall, I was impressed by how much Twitter added to my conference-going experience . . . It took me some time to find my "voice", make some personal policies about what, when and how I would engage with the community through Twitter. And suddenly, I wasn't learning alone anymore. " http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html

Twitter as News Gathering Tool • CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Uses it to gather news. (They also use Friend. Feed, Scoopler, and Search. Merge). http: //bit. ly/Pd. Ysg

Twitter as Tool for Professional Development • Melissa Venable, Curriculum Manager with Kaplan Higher Education, is “amazed at the amount of information, access to leaders in the field, and potential for professional development. ” http: //www. c 4 lpt. co. uk/handbook/examples. html • Gordon, Snyder, Springfield Technical College, Massachusetts. Uses Twitter as a polling device in class. http: //bit. ly/aavx 9 e

Using Twitter to Teach Networking Skills • Georgia Southern University. Uses Twitter and Facebook to post online assignments. http: //makingconnectionsfye 1220. wordpress. com/ • David Parry, University of Texas at Dallas. Uses Twitter in his Introduction to Computer-Mediated Communication class. http: //bit. ly/b. D 7 GJS

Using Twitter to Track a Word or a Phrase • 25 Twitter Projects. http: //bit. ly/j. B 7 GJ

A Basic Twitter Tutorial • Follow the easy steps on the slides that follow to set up a free account at Twitter. Ready to start tweeting? Okay, let’s get started.

Step Open Twitter home page • Open www. twitter. com in your browser. 1. The Twitter home page is divided into three sections. If you hover your computer mouse over the See who’s here section on the left side text boxes will appear with the names of celebrities who are online, the names of sports teams, and organizations such as businesses. The Top tweets section displays current top tweets and is updated frequently throughout the day. The third section allows you to sign up for a Twitter account.

Step 2: Begin Sign-up Process 2. Click the Give it a try button to begin the sign up process. Enter your full name, a user name and password, and an email address. Click the Create my account button.

Step 3: Type Security Text 3. The next screen asks you to enter the two words you see in the text box below to prove to twitter that you are a human being, not a computer program. If you can’t read the words Twitter provides a button you can click to display two new words. Type the words in the text box and click Finish. If you do not type the words correctly two new words will display.

Step 4: Select Topics 4. On the next screen you can select topics that interest you to help you find tweets you would like to subscribe to. Select as many topics as you wish.

Step 5: Find Tweets to Follow 5. If you select the first topic, Art & Design, a list of tweets from artists, designers, art studios, museums, etc. , will display. Click the follow button to subscribe to a tweet. Your selections will be highlighted in yellow. To see more tweets click the more button at the bottom of the page.

Step 6: Search Contacts 6. Click #2 friends, under Find sources that interest you at the top of the screen. Twitter will search your Contacts list in your email program and identity the ones that already use Twitter. It will display the number of people that are not on Twitter and ask if you want to invite them to join. It will display the names and email addresses of your contacts that are already on Twitter in the middle of the page. If you like you can click buttons on the right to follow them on Twitter or to send a request to them, but this step is optional. In the screen shot shown in Figure 7 I have covered up the names and addresses of the persons listed by Twitter.

Step 7: Twitter Home Page Menu 7. Return to your Twitter home page. The links at the top of the page allow you to change your Profile information, find people to follow, change your account settings, access Twitter Help, and sign out.

Step 8: Add Profile Information 8. Click on Profile. You can add your photo to your Twitter account if you want to by clicking the Photo button. Locate the photo you want to add and click Open. If you want your followers on Twitter to know where you are when you post a tweet, enter your location in the Location text box. If you have a web site you can enter the URL in the Web text box. You can also add a brief bio, but these options are optional. When you are finished, click the Save button.

Step 9: Find People to Follow 9. Click the Find People link at the top of the screen. You can type the name of a person you want to follow in the search box and click Search. If the person you searched for has a Twitter account and you want to follow him or her, click the first of the three buttons under the Action bar and that person is added to the list of tweets you follow. A green check mark will display by that person’s name indicating that you are following him/her.

Step 10: Change Account Settings 10. Click the Settings link on the menu at the top of the page. The Account tab will display. It lists your Name, Username, Email address, the language you are using, your time zone, and lets you add your location to your tweets if you wish. Check the box next to Tweet Privacy, if you wish to restrict your tweets to people you approve of. Make any changes you want to and click the Save button. You will be asked to type your password before you save the changes to your account.

Step 11: Change Password 11. Click the Password link on the Settings menu at the top of the screen. If you have forgotten your password you can send a message to Twitter asking them to resend it. You can also change your password on this screen.

Step 12: Set-up Twitter for Text Messaging 12. Click the Mobile link on the Settings menu if you want to use Twitter with text messaging. If you want to use text messaging enter your mobile phone number in the text box under #2. Click the Start button to verify your mobile phone. Send this text message to Twitter at 40404: “GO”. If Twitter receives your message a confirmation message will display on your mobile phone and on the next screen in Twitter.

Step 13: Change Settings for Notices 13. Click the Notices link on the Settings menu. You can change these settings so that Twitter will email you when someone starts following you, if you wish. You can also have Twitter email you when you receive a new direct message and have Twitter send you email updates. Click the Save button to confirm any changes you make in these settings.

Step 14: Change Profile 14. The next link lets Twitter users make changes to their profiles. Make any changes you wish to make and click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 15: Change Design of Your Twitter Page 15. Click the last link on the Settings menu - Design. The Design screen lets you change the background image on your Twitter page and your design colors. Make any changes you want to make and click the save changes button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 16: Twitter Help 16. Twitter provides an extensive Help system to answer any questions you may have about the site. You can search for information you are looking for or choose a category to search.

Best Practices for Using Twitter & Other Social networking Tools • • • Things a teacher needs to consider before using Friends and friending Content Privacy Security

Best Practices: Things to Consider • • Educate yourself on use of social media tools How will your social network integrate with your LMS? What problems will social networking solve? Understand your school’s social networking policy Develop online social etiquette policy Are your students trained in use of social networking? What is your security plan for using social networking in the classroom?

Best Practices: Friends and Friending • Use different accounts for your personal life and for the classroom • Never initiate friendships with students • Always maintain strictly professional relationship with your students

Best Practices: Content • Do not make any comments that might be considered defamatory, obscene, or libelous • Be careful when using copyrighted materials • Post only what you want the world to see • Do not discuss your students or your coworkers • Post content that will immediately engage students • Post new content frequently • Post only relevant information

Best Practices: Privacy • Set your privacy settings to limit content your students have access to • Check your privacy settings often • Create a personal account and one for your classes

Best Practices: Security • Be careful when installing external applications that work with Twitter • Update the malware protection on your computer often • Use passwords that are hard to crack • Do not fall for phishing scam emails

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