Uses of Twitter for Teaching and Learning Jo

Uses of Twitter for Teaching and Learning Jo. Ann Brodey joann. brodey@sheridanc. on. ca Prof Jo #updown 101 https: //todaysmeet. com/Prof. Jo

D-evolution of communication

Agenda Explore uses of Twitter Provide Reference page of resources Encourage “backchannelling” Passing notes idea: Real-time online conversation at same time as main event https: //todaysmeet. com/Prof. Jo Talk about… Merits and drawbacks of Twitter Possible ideas for your courses

Uses of Twitter in Traditional, Hybrid and Online Classroom Opportunity to enhance critical thinking to engage students to build community to develop research skills to share resources (internet sites) to share ideas Twitter is free and has wide adoption

Getting on Twitter is easy Twitter. com https: //twitter. com/ Give yourself a name-Prof Jo@joannbrodey Easy tutorials on how to get started Tutorials in Youtube lynda. com support. twitter. com

The Twitter Party: Wk 2 Build community and engagement early First/second week create a buzz & invite students to a Twitter party Create a class space with # Prof Jo’s space #updown 101 Give it value with marks (bonus 1%) Optional Specific assignment Storify (capture “Party”; publish link for all) 40 students (3 classes) 150 tweets

Twitter Party Observations Have a purpose: Relate purpose to content/issues Extend hours for those unable to attend Send invitations to students/teachers Invite more than one section of course Build anticipation; stress netiquette Avoid anonymity: responsible for your tweets Set a reasonable time (hour) Give activity value(1% bonus-built into SLATE) Storify http: //storify. com/Jo. Ann. Brodey/twitter-party-sept-12 -2013

Storify. com Allows you to make stories using tweets, photos, videos, links Drag and drop items into a space to make a story. Use your own text to make components of story connect Easy to re-order, add, delete to improve content and organization Provides a link to embed in twitter, facebook, your website, in SLATE

Use of Twitter: Backchannelling Originally a linguistics’ term to describe listeners’ behaviours during verbal communication Twitter Backchannelling refers to online conversation about an event: conference; college lecture; student presentations; video; slide show; TV documentary; TV shows

Avoid Twitter Backchannelling Disasters in the classroom Purpose: to involve students; find out where confusion may be; answer ? s Discourage anonymity Defuse the snark bomb before it blows up on you Take breaks to read the tweets Handle negative comments: ignore or address directly? Depends….

Other uses of Twitter as a bulletin board at class # Stay on top of learning process: ask students to tweet and reply about what they’re learning, difficulties Share links about latest (course content)innovations Weekly hashtags to organize comments, summarize feedback Building reading and writing skills Vocabulary skills. ESL. https: //sites. google. com/site/nimitztwitterproject/classroom-ideas Summarize skills Online debates Grammar-Tweet in past tense, tweet a compound sentence

How might you use Twitter for your course? For F F F f announcements

Clive Thompson vs Steve Easterbrook Q debate 1 ½ hours + post program chat Poll: 51% say Internet makes us dumber 49% say Internet makes us smarter Best comments May be impacting memory Maybe the habits of the user determine outcome You are what you tweet (Clive)

Margaret Atwood speaks out about Twitter You get a lot of nonsense about, “Won’t Twitter destroy English language? ” Well, did the telegram destroy the English language? No. People wrote in Telegram-ese because you paid by the word. So they wrote these cryptic condensed things. But they didn’t talk like that any more than I’m talking to you in 140 characters. So it is a short form communication method, like writing on washroom walls. Or like Romans writing graffiti back in Rome, or Vikings writing runes on the walls of tombs they had broken into. You weren’t going to write a novel on the wall of a tomb. But you were going to write “Thorfeld was here, ” which is pretty much what they wrote. “Found no treasure. Shit. ” http: //www. techvibes. com/blog/margaret-atwood-on-why-twitter-wont-destroy-the-english-language-201309 -04

References Aggregrate of sources http: //twitterforeducation. wikispaces. com/Educational+Uses+of+Twitter 35 Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom (K 12 +college) 100 Ways to Teach with Twitter Classroom Backchannels This is who uses Twitter and why 60 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom by Category Q Debate Special: Is the Internet making us smarter or stupider #Qdebate Avoiding Backchannelling Disasters The Twitter Essay 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom