Teaching using

By Shireen Richardson

Knowledge about using Twitter for Education

How would you assess your knowledge about using Twitter for education? Discuss this with your colleagues.

A humorous introduction to Twitter!Click to view movie

What is Twitter? a micro-blogging platform that provides users with the ability to write updates and messages of up to 140 characters in length, at any time

it can be used in a range of ways, from egocentric personalities letting the world know what they are up to, to useful educational and scientific forums

within education, it can be a valuable tool for collaborative learning and educational discussion among staff and students

‘Many people see short messages as a shortcoming and don’t recognise Twitter’s strengths.’ (Bell & Kuon 2009)

Appropriate Use of Twitter by Teachers

As a collaborative learning and communication tool

Form collaborative learning environments or online communities of practice - set up groups and ‘follow’ one anotherShare and discuss ideas and resources such as:

innovative ideas‘ah ha’ moments you have had regarding teaching practice, pedagogy and methodologyfantastic lessons you have recently taught, where an idea worked really wellan amazingly useful web address you have foundsomething you have recently learned (perhaps while undertaking further study)

Appropriate Use of Twitter by Teachers continued

Search for resources

Follow other exciting educational leaders from around the world

Search for specific information that will provide ideas and professional development

Engage students in and out of the classroom with creative teaching ideas

Communicate with parents or students

Appropriate Use of Twitter by StudentsBrainstorm concepts and ideas

Discuss ideas with individuals or a group

Project-manage assignments

Share resources with others

Send out questions to others

Appropriate Use of Twitter by Students continued

To enhance reading comprehension skills

Respond to texts

Participate in a Twitter Book Club or Literature Circle

Develop reading strategies (For example, summarise texts in the style of ‘Twitterature’)

Appropriate Use of Twitter by Students continued

Write

Develop literacy skills, speed and fluency

Collaborative writing tasks – poetry, short stories

Storytweet competitions

Story beginnings or story starters to share or swap

In addition, help students to:Learn social responsibility

Further develop their digital literacy

Learn about social safety

Inappropriate Use of Twitter In an educational context, Twitter

becomes an inappropriate tool when students and teachers use it to tell followers literally 'what's happening' in their social and personal lives.

Many who use Twitter as their 'personal learning network' become frustrated when others use it in a more social context.

What other schools are doingExample 1 (click to play)

Planet QeJ Earth Exploration : This is an example of Twitter being used with 9-11 year olds in a collaborative project across schools, involving Science, Geography and Literacy. View the associated Twitter account at <http://twitter.com/planet_QEJ>

What other schools are doingExample 2 (click to play)

The Gunpowder Plot - again for 9-11 year olds. Students created a Twitter account for Robert Catesby, leader of the Gunpowder Plot. They researched that occurred after Fawkes' capture, then used Hootsuite to schedule tweets. You can also view the associated twitter account at <http://twitter.com/LCS_RCatesby>

What other schools are doingExample 3 (click to play)

CSI Twitter for 5-13 year olds. Students used a skeleton, which they found in the playground, to undertake scientific investigations for identification. Further details can be found at <http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/12/04/csi-twitter-crime-scent-investigation/>

What other schools are doingExample 4 (click to play)

The Twitter Experiment was used at University; however, could also be useful in the context of VCE lecture-style classes. It involves live comments, questions and feedback tweeted by students and then displayed (via Tweetdeck) on a large screen in real time, and, whilst the teacher/lecturer is talking.

What other schools are doingExample 5 (click to play)

This is an example of how Twitter can be used by subject leaders in a school, using <visibletweets.com> to see what people had been tweeting about, then using the information as a source for discussion.All 5 examples are from Cooper-Taylor 'Tweaking Twitter for Teachers’

Other examples of using Twitter in Education

100 Ways to Teach with Twitter (Walsh, 2010)

Ideas to Inspire (Warner, Ed.)

Twitterature (Penguin Books)

Professional development and developing students' digital citizenship

(Betcher, 2010)

How to get started...

A written step by step guide:Step 1 Create an account. Go to Twitter.com and click the green “Get

Started” button to join. Enter your name, user name, password, and email address, and you’re good to go.

Step 2 Decide what you want to say. In general, Twitter messages, or

“tweets,” answer the question, “What are you doing right now?” But you can also post a link, express an opinion or reaction, or pose a question.

(Twitter keeps things short and sweet: Messages can be no longer than 140 characters.)

Step 3 On the home page, type your message into the box at the top of the

screen and hit “Update.” Congratulations! You’ve posted your first tweet!

If your tweet is intended for one user in particular, type the ‘@’ symbol followed by that user’s screen name before the text of your message.

A step by step guide continued:Step 4 Twitter is a two-way street. Now that you’ve posted your first

update, choose people whose updates you want to follow. To search by name, click on “Find People” in the upper right corner and then click the “Find on Twitter” tab. You can follow individuals, like friends and colleagues, and groups, like news services, organizations, and nonprofits.

People may be listed under a screen name that doesn’t match their real name.

Step 5 Once you’ve found someone you want to hear from on Twitter,

click “Follow,” and you’ll receive their updates automatically. People you already know will often reciprocate and start following you, too.

If you have a Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, or MSN email account, you can import any contacts that also have a Twitter account. You can also invite someone via email, or scroll through a list of suggested people.

Step 6 To help people find you, fill in account information under “Settings,” such as your location, real name, and a brief bio.

You can also add the URL of your web site or blog if you have one. If you want to restrict your Twitter updates to only those who follow

you, check the box marked, “Protect my updates.” You’ll maintain your privacy, but you’ll limit your reach. To get the full Twitter experience, leave the box unchecked.

Step 7 You don’t have to be online to use Twitter. No matter where you are,

you can stay connected with your cell phone. On the “Devices” tab under “Settings,” enter your mobile number to receive and post Twitter updates via text message.

Twitter doesn’t charge for text messages, but your wireless provider might. Make sure you know the details of your messaging plan.

Step 8 On the “Picture” and “Design” tabs, customize how your profile

appears to others by uploading photos and choosing background themes.

A step by step guide continued:

Step 9 See what people on Twitter are saying about subjects

you’re interested in. At the bottom of any Twitter page, click “Search” and type in a name or topic. Or, either below the search box or alongside search results, check out what’s generating the most buzz by browsing through “Trending topics.”

Step 10 You can post updates from the web in the update box,

via text message, on your cell phone’s web browser using m.twitter.com, or from any third party application. Apps are available at twitter.com/downloads. The more updates you post, the more people will follow you. Now get tweeting!

 (‘How to Use Twitter’ 2009)

A step by step guide continued:

Some useful twitterers to begin with:

Pitfalls or problems to be aware of:Ritchie (2009) outlines some of the negative aspects of Twitter:

Privacy issues if teachers try to maintain personal and professional accounts

Pupils being distracted during class if they’re allowed to tweet on their phones

Neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield recently claimed that social networking could result in an inability to empathise with others

We can’t predict the future: Twitter might yet be judged a fleeting internet phenomenon.

Potential Pitfalls of Twitter

(SPEL)

Etiquette

List Management

Professional v

Personal

Security

Set your privacy settings high

Don’t automatically accept followers

Be prepared to block or ‘unfollow’ others

It is important to keep personal and professional networks separate

Although Twitter says ‘What’s happening’, people in your professional network don’t want a literal answer!

As with all social networking and any means of communicating, good manners are very important!

Use ‘Tweetiquette’

It is easy to become overwhelmed by the huge amount of information being tweeted on Twitter

Use list management to sort information into topic-based lists

Solutions to PitfallsSecurity: Recommendations for Twitter Security (US Navy,

2010)

Professional versus Personal: Some Thoughts on Keeping it Professional

(Eversley, 2010)

How to Access Separate Twitter Accounts (Tommasi, 2010)

Etiquette:Twitter Etiquette (Chambers, 2010)

List Management:Tweet Deck (http://tweetdeck.com)

Other Twitter Management Tools (Ferman, 2009)

Online Directory of Learning Professionals http://c4lpt.co.uk/connexions/

Directory of Teacher Twitters http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/

Frequently Asked Questions http://twitter.zendesk.com/entries/13920-frequently-asked-questions

How to Set up Lists http://twitter.zendesk.com/entries/76460-how-to-use-twitter-lists

Highly Recommended for Managing and Viewing Lists! http://www.tweetdeck.com/

Twitter Glossary http://webtrends.about.com/od/twitter/a/twitter_glossary.htm

Other useful links:

References:

Bell, MA & Kuon, T 2009, 'HOME ALONE! STILL COLLABORATING', Knowledge Quest, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 52-5.

Betcher, C 2010, 'Big Twitter, Little Twitter', Betchablog, March 19, http://chrisbetcher.com/2010/03/big-twitter-little-twitter/ [accessed May 16, 2010].

Chambers, N 2010, ‘Tweetiquette – Twitter Etiquette, Top Ten Dos and Don’ts of Twitter’, English Spark, http://www.englishspark.com/en/teachers/marketing-101/325-tweetiquette-twitter-etiquette, [accessed 4 May, 2010]

Cooper-Taylor, C 'Tweaking Twitter for Teachers, http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=173420&title=Tweaking_Twitter_for_Teachers [Accessed April 24, 2010].

Eversley, M 2010, ‘Separate but Equal: Juggling the Personal and Professional with Social Media’, NABJ Digital’s Blog, http://nabjdigital.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/separate-but-equal-juggling-the-personal-and-professional-with-social-media/, [accessed May 3, 2010]

References continued

Ferman 2009, ‘30 Tools for Managing Twitter’, Pelfusion, http://pelfusion.com/tools/30-twitter-tools-for-managing-followers/, accessed May 3, 2010]

‘How to Use Twitter’, 2009, Howcast Media, http://www.howcast.com/videos/149055-How-To-Use-Twitter [accessed May 30, 2010]

Penguin Books, ‘Twitterature’, http://www.twitterature.us/uk/index.htm [accessed May 3, 2010]

Ritchie, M 2009, 'Chirping about Twitter', Times Educational Supplement, no. 4836, pp. 18-21.

SuperNews! 2009, ‘Trouble with Twitters’, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w [accessed May 3, 2010]

Tommasi, M 2010, ‘How to Set Up Multiple Accounts with One Email Address’, The Social Media Guide, http://thesocialmediaguide.com.au/2009/06/12/how-to-setup-multiple-twitter-accounts-with-one-email-address/, [accessed May 12, 2010]

References continued

Unites States Navy 2010, ‘Navy recommended privacy settings for Twitter’, http://www.slideshare.net/USNavySocialMedia/navy-recommended-privacy-settings-for-twitter, [accessed May 20, 2010]

TweetDeck, 2010, http://tweetdeck.com, [accessed May 2, 2010]

Warner, M (Ed), 'Ideas to Inspire', http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/twitter.htm [accessed April 29 2010].

Walsh, K 2010, '100 Ways to Teach with Twitter', EmergingEdTech, www.emergingedtech.com [accessed May 8 2010].

Annotated Bibliography:Access via this link

Happy Tweeting!