Week Nine - Introduction to Twitter

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This intro to Twitter will serve to whet your appetite on its many applications. You will be invited to set up a Twitter account, to follow friends, and to 'tweet' (post a message).

Integration into Education

Web 2.0 Teaching Tools identified a number of educational uses such as:

• reminding students about homework, what to bring to field trips or classes
• a communications tool for collaborating researchers
• exchanging instant feedback on an activity
  
• libraries can announce new resources or upcoming events

In Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter, the author suggests -

• collaboration with fellow educators
• sounding board for ideas
• staying up-to-date with news and current affairs (see article on Tweeting the Terror in the Additional Resources)
  

Through Web 2.0 tools you can set up your own Personal Learning Network (PLN). At this point, my PLN would include our Teaching with Technology (blogs), several other blogs of the educational ilk, several Wikis (including our DUT wiki and another that is being used for teaching purposes) and today I will start using Twitter (I'm eager to find out what the fuss is all about!). I suppose even My Worldcat, a repository of books/journals that are archived and that can be shared, could be considered a PLN since a PLN connects me to other people to share my learnings and to have the opportunity to learn from them. My newest GREAT find is 'The Educator's PLN: Personal Learning Network for Educators Using a ning - something we aren't going to practice with during our session). Click here to find out more about setting up your own PLN.

This video from CBC has a student and an educator discuss how they use Twitter.


Downfalls of Twitter

Twitter messages can be mundane and use up valuable time. For example "I'm going to have a shower now" or "I am having a tuna sandwich for lunch". It you are using your cell phone for Twitter you might be charged for all those messages.

Activity #1 - Learn about Twitter

Here is the Common Craft video on Twitter in Plain English




Activity #2 - Use Twitter for a mini-blog

• Go to Twitter and set up an account. If you would like to watch a tutorial on how to set up an account, see the video below.

• Next, find and follow other Twitter members. The more that you follow, the more interesting your Twitter experience will be. On the home page you will see a hyperlink that says "Find some friends". There are various ways to find friends using this application. If you use the first tab, "Find on Twitter", you type in the person's name and if they are on Twitter they will come up in your search. When the results come up you can click on the person's name to make sure that it is the person (or organization) that you are looking for. Then click "follow". This means you will connect to this person and be able to follow their posts (tweets) on Twitter.

If you need a place to start, you might want to look for musicians, politicians, authors, people in your field of expertise, organizations.

Another way to find people to follow is to go on a friend's home page and click to see who they are following. You can find who they are following in the upper-right of their page. Click on "following" and if there are people/organizations that you would like to follow, click "follow".

• Finally, start posting in the "What are you doing" box. Remember, you can ask questions, tell us what you are doing, post a website, and so on.

As a first-time user, I know that I am going to go through a learning curve with this Web 2.0 tool. I need to think about who I want to follow, how often I will check in, and what I can post that will be useful.

Activity #3 - Tell us about your experience

Update your blog and tell us about your Twitter experience. Some ideas for postings -

• Had you heard of Twitter before?
• Could Twitter be a part of your PLN (personal learning network)? If so, how?
• Who did you search for on Twitter (a colleague, someone in your field of expertise, a friend ...)
• If your students were on Twitter, who might they follow that would be of interest to your field of study?
• As always, you can write about anything that comes to mind :-)

Additional Resources (Optional)

Professor encourages students to pass notes during class via Twitter This technique used at an IT Forum encouraged participants to interact during a presentation

How could I use Twitter? 100 Tips and Resources for Teachers on Twitter

Twitter for Academia Ideas you might be able to use

Need some Twitter tips? Check out Twitter Cheat Sheet

Want to be Twitter-appropriate? Take a look at Twitter Etiquette

Wondering who to follow? Directory of learning professionals on Twitter

Twitter Reading List has great links on how to use Twitter in education!

If you are wondering about some of the applications on Twitter such as setting up a group for your tweets you will find some answers at 47 Awesome Twitter Tools

Kim Pittaway wrote an article on Twitter for Journalists that shows an interesting perspective.